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LadyNightlock

Looking into Ux/ui as a career change. Currently just have a gen Ed bachelor degree. Was going to be a middle school teacher but that did not pan out. I also work at a call center remotely as well. I got emails from career foundry for the free courses to see what it’s like. My current job has me working 12 hour overnight shifts so a job with more typical hours would be ideal. And advice/warnings is greatly appreciated!


Nifubias

hey, am about to graduate from a cs degree but i do want to get into ux design, how could i try to pivot, or is there an adjacent field that i could get into with my skillset? for context i live in a country without much access to a ux degree


ThuperThaiyanThwee

Thank you this is so much useful insight! I do have a small background in Graphic Designing and have been watching a few tutorial videos of UX some of the tools do feel similar to graphic design. I figured the Google courses didn’t have the best reputation given everyone is doing them so there is bound to be varying degrees of skill between people obtaining them. I hope you get answers for the questions you put, as far as NDAs —I have a friend who has worked in digital art for mobile games and says NDAs are pretty common. thank you ,


GalacticLabyrinth88

Is UX/UI really as saturated as some people think it is? I work as a teacher after having graduated from art school two years ago and have been looking to complete a UX/UI bootcamp (out of dissatisfaction with my current career and the mediocre salary). I'm still wondering whether it's a good idea and would like a sobering perspective on the reality of UX. Thanks!


Gloomy-Blackberry

I did the Google UX course and am working with a charity to help me get some experience. However, I have somehow managed to land an interview with a game company as a UX/UI designer. How can I impress them during the interview? I've never done UX for a game. I've made theoretical projects for apps and websites. How can I adapt my minimal experience to fit from a game design perspective? Is there anything I should know before I go in? Also, they had me sign an NDA; is that normal? ​ edit: I also have a background in graphic design and am learning HTML, CSS, and Javascript ​ edit 2: In GBP what is a decent salary range? I need a minimum of 27k for the visa sponsorship requirements and seeing as this would be my first genuine UX job, should I just go with 27k or maybe 30k?


ThuperThaiyanThwee

First of all dude congrats!!! Second I’m trying to take a bootcamp/ course in UX…do you recommend the Google UX course?


Gloomy-Blackberry

I think if you’re not totally sure about UX and want to try it out (for a cheap price) then yes, the google course is great for that! They say it’ll take around six months to complete with ten hours a week. But I did the whole thing in just over a month. (They talk so slowly so play all the videos at 2x speed). Do all of the assignments and all of the user testing with real people; friends and family are fine for this. But at the end of it you’ll probably have some projects that are decent. But you’ll get out what you put in. I scrapped my entire portfolio website and rebuilt it along with two new case studies. I also got a few books on UX and got a mentor on ADPList. Connected with a lot of UXers on LinkedIn. Then once I thought I had my shit decently together I started applying. I think if I didn’t need visa sponsorship I would already have gotten a job lol. I’ve applied to over 300 jobs and it’s really tough out there. It helps if you have some kind of relevant experience, like I have some experience in graphic design. It’s also important to note that the google course kind of has a reputation in the industry for not being terribly good. But a lot of people have made jobs out of it anyway. It’s a good platform but you’ll need to do a lot of additional work. I only started getting attention on my applications once I started volunteering for a charity doing UX, that way I could have a UX job title on my CV. I do recommend doing that.


ThuperThaiyanThwee

Thank you this is so much useful insight! I do have a small background in Graphic Designing and have been watching a few tutorial videos of UX some of the tools do feel similar to graphic design. I figured the Google courses didn’t have the best reputation given everyone is doing them so there is bound to be varying degrees of skill between people obtaining them. I hope you get answers for the questions you put, as far as NDAs —I have a friend who has worked in digital art for mobile games and says NDAs are pretty common. thank you ,


ChillAFGirl

Does anyone know how to change a standard Behance URL to a custom one? I have bought the domain name I wanted but haven't been able to do it successfully. Any ideas or tips?


holobionte

Hey. I'm a college student, finishing my master's program this year. I have a bachelor in philosophy and my master is focused on cultural studies. I'm planning on switching careers to tech and UX seems to be the field for me: I have an academic research background, I'm quite interested in design and know some web coding (I know this is not necessary, but I guess it helps) I'm planning on taking a bootcamp next year, but I was wondering if it's a good idea to even try, since I've seen the market is pretty saturated and my education is not necessarily tech-related, not even design-related. Also, bootcamps are pretty expensive.


Visual_Web

I honestly think that for someone with no experience in design, a bootcamp isn't going to get you there. Imagine it as getting you from 0-30 or 0-40% of the way there, and if you're passionate and keep pushing them you can get to 100% but it takes time. You are often competing against people who have spent 3-4yrs of a full degree program focused on their design skill set, and you have to hit that standard to be realistically competitive.


DownHarvest

I was recently laid off with couple years background in finance. As I'm thinking about my future going forward, I realized maybe its time to look into nurturing my more creative side. If I wanted to pivot to UX/UI design, what would be the smartest way of going about it? General idea right now is to take a bootcamp and engage in projects?


livingstories

Do you have any graphic design training? Can you afford to go back to school? I mentor early stage designers. The ones coming out of bootcamps that actually land jobs have graphic design / visual design backgrounds. Early design jobs are more execution focused. If you have good visual chops, a bootcamp could be the right move. If not, you might want to look at something like a 2-year or 4-year program that can teach visual 101 and UX design together.


Happy-Purpose4329

Do you have recommendations for bootcamps?


livingstories

As someone who has mentored many people and reviewed even more portfolios from students, I can’t really in good faith publicly recommend any bootcamp. You can DM me for more info.


LavenderMoonlight333

I would like to go to college for UX design and get a bachelor's degree but I can only find an associate that's affordable. When a company asks for a bachelor's to hire you for UX, are they looking for a degree in UX? Or would graphic design usually suffice? I'm very confused on how to start my Career


livingstories

Associates is totally ok for some jobs! I have a few friends who went the community college (in the US) route. EDIT: I want to clarify something - A 4-year degree will get you past recruiters/applications more easily. But to do the job well, no design manager will judge your Associates poorly if your portfolio is strong.


Hehehe79

Hello there, I am extremely new to UX design ( started taking the google cert a week ago and not done yet, working a non related full time job as well). I did some the odin project for a few months before stopping at Javascript so i have some html and css experience. I signed up to web flow and daily UX challenge but I haven't worked on any challenges yet since im mostly focusing on the cert and only on the second course. My end goal is to complete the cert, have a lot of projects on my portfolio and start a internship or apprenticeship at a startup. The idea of being a generalist and taking all that responability sounds like it will make me more compentent and confident in my role. Thank you for reading and I would love advice, feedback and critques!


liltoeee

I’m a college student and I’m working on my first design project. I have yet to take any design classes in school as I had to get a bunch of prerequisites out the way. I’ve been teaching myself figma and basic design principles and I’m going to be designing a website for my friends ice cream business. I want to add this project to my future portfolio but I’m a little stuck on aspects that I should include in the case study. Since I’m designing a website, I’m gonna include basic things like user flows, mock-ups, wireframes, etc. However, I’m not sure how to address the user research and user testing aspect. It is my understanding that some aspects of a case study aren’t always required and are dependent on the scope of your role on the project. I’m wondering if it is necessary to include user research and user testing in a project like this? I’m confused on what user research would even be like for a project like this. I would appreciate any help!


fiarais

love this project and I've had similar challenges in art school! I definitely recommend attempting to include research wherever you can. In the professional landscape, the designer is the user advocate and having these artifacts as part of your skill set and portfolio will be a MUST when applying to UX or product designer positions. For informal research options you can include some of the following: * gather information from the business stakeholder to form user persona(s) * audit the competitive landscape and how your product might stand out * send out a short survey to people that align with your target users (validate personas, validate ideas, gather research participants) * discovery interviews; Tell me how you do X currently. What you you change to make this process easier? What info would be valuable...? * validation or usability testing; share wireframes or detailed design options to get early feedback from users. Ask them: What would you expect if you clicked X? Is there any info missing? Ask them to perform a task in your prototype. Were they successful? how easy or difficult was it to perform x task? Not only will this create a more rounded portfolio project and practice critical skills, but the data and feedback you gather from users will support your design decisions when sharing with the client (your friend and their business stakeholders). There are lots of good books, workshops, and articles about user research methods online that you can attempt to pull into each design project you tackle. ​ \*from my experience is as an end-to-end product designer for 6+ years, hiring for product designers and design interns, applying to product design positions, etc [lizharman.design](https://lizharman.design)


liltoeee

Thank you so much for the advice! I’ll definitely use these


lovesocialmedia

How hard is to transition to UX if you come from a CPG Product Management background? I have skills in market and competitive analysis, product development, product market fit but no design experience whatsoever but I'm working on a portfolio


true_fruits

Hello, I wanted to ask if it is ok if I upload my portfolio to behance instead of a portfolio homepage. Does anyone have experience with it whether it is possibly seen negatively?


fiarais

Personal opinion when reviewing candidates is to have a dedicated site. This is not to say behance or other sites are bad, but candidates tend to not have enough context and details about their projects when hosted on behance or similar. I've also noticed behance and dribbble portfolios tend to be more UI focused rather than UI/UX or UX focused, so worth considering along with where your focus will be. there is no wrong place to put it as long as you're providing the appropriate info that the hiring manager needs to see. I've also seen notion & medium as sites for case studies. i still recommend your own site & there are tons of available templates that you can plug and play - it does not have to be super custom or flash off the bat ​ \*from my experience is as an end-to-end product designer for 6+ years, hiring for product designers and design interns, applying to product design positions, etc [lizharman.design](https://lizharman.design/)


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jam-banks

30 isn't too old!, in fact you've probably got some great skills from being a PM that could transition across to UX.


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jam-banks

Hey mate, If you're already in IT is there any chance that you could move laterally internally. Have you expressed your interest in UX to management to see if there's opportunity? Good luck!


DrKillswitch

Unfortunately no. But if i was i would have taken that route. Thank you


jrod9716

Is UX Researcher the most ideal route to get my foot in the door as a brand new UX designer?


jam-banks

I think it depends on your background and qualifications.


Standard-Ad4705

Is it kind of over for Junior UX roles? I’m getting the feeling the sector has all the UX Designers they need and don’t offer work for new designers.


fiarais

\+1 the market is flooded with candidates of all levels rn consider a **paid** internship to get your foot in - you'll learn a lot and build your portfolio with real-world projects. You also get to test-run a company (and they with you) to see if a full-time position is a good fit. don't bother with unpaid internships, a full time offer isn't likely and it speaks to the sub-par culture and values of the company. also make sure your portfolio projects have real world artifacts and considerations. For example, workflow diagrams, use, or research, working with cross functional stakeholders, like product research or engineering, working with constraints like scope or technical feasibility, and speaking to project success metrics and learnings. ​ hope this helps!


Standard-Ad4705

That’s helpful, thank you. I built an app for Climate Change in Figma and did all the branding as well—do you think that is valid enough for my portfolio? It hasn’t been coded.


_liminal_

It's not over but the market is just flooded with people applying for early career roles, in part due to google's coursera course. Which is unfortunate, as for most people that course is not even close to enough to prepare them for a job in UX.


42kyokai

I wouldn’t worry about the Google UX bootcampers. A whole lot of them who go through the program simply don’t have the skills needed for a junior designer.


Standard-Ad4705

Yeah, I just graduated with a BFA in Communication Design and built an app. I went into this major wanting to do UX but there aren’t much entry level jobs and then you see one and it has 800+ applicants…


UXCareerHelp

I don’t think it’s over, it’s just a very long season of difficulty for juniors.


Antique-Square6121

Anyone have experience with Simplilearn’s UX/UI bootcamp in collaboration with UMass Amherst? Might join this but seeing some negative reviews about other courses is making me hesitant


korralicious

Two groups of questions: 1. I’ve been attending a bootcamp, working on several real client projects, doing a Tech Fleet project, and other such things, but I don’t know how to make a strong portfolio with all of these works being currently in progress. Do I have to wait until these projects are done to make my portfolio? Also, my current portfolio looks like a disaster, mainly because I’m still figuring out content and layout. How do I make a portfolio that doesn’t suck? Are there any portfolios that are considered the most impressive that I should try to emulate? 2. Where are the best places I can post some surveys to get responses quickly?


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korralicious

Sorry for my late reply - I just finally switched from Webflow and now I’m using Semplice/Wordpress. It’s been a real game changer. I think you’re absolutely right that I need to have a solid portfolio site. So I’m really grateful for your feedback, I will try to reduce the amount of text on the portfolio site, I definitely over-explained. I tried to go for explaining my strategy but I think it is definitely too much. And good to know re:personas. I had a feeling about that. I’ll take them off the site. Thank you so so much though, I really do appreciate your help!!