How to become a good UX Designer without a degree

There is no place to change as quickly as work. This is especially true for digital designers. 20 years ago, you were going to work for a company, taking on a role, and staying there until you were happy to retire.

Today things have changed and become much more interesting. Current job positions require a lot of skills. Companies define new career paths for you. So this is a very attractive time both in terms of work and study.

These changes have come at a very interesting time. Education systems seem unable to keep up with the need to teach new and advanced skills such as UX design. Many online training solutions, from large online video courses provided by Coursera, to Udacity's free courses, try to close this gap, but no one really creates one. Reliable path for a career in UX.

"You don't need a degree to succeed in UX design."

User experience designers (UX designers) are responsible for guiding users safely to the goals they desire. Some people attach the concept of UI (user interface) to the position of the person responsible for what users see and how they interact with your product.

UX design positions are now in high demand. Research firm Nielsen Norman Group conducted a survey of 963 UX experts and found them to be very independent and happy with their career path. Nielsen also asked UX experts to rate their job satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being perfect. The results show that the UX designers love their work 17 times more than those who hate it.

Employers also respond to that love. The average salary for UX professionals in the US is $ 87,000 per year. This number is more than the average income of US households of $ 53,000.

"The average salary for UX professionals in the US is $ 87,000 dollars a year."

UX design is a valuable art that you learn through improvisation. This field is growing very fast and always sets new requirements for its students every day. Unfortunately, UX design is not something you can learn without some work experience. But it is something that you can learn without a degree.

When asked to describe what they often look for in a professional UX, an UX expert said: “If you are a 'lifelong learner', in other words, if you can get the experience. before and apply those lessons to your new situation. That is more important to me than the specific skills you can learn at school. ”

Jorge Baltazar described his journey into the UX world as "accidental" after he programmed his first website while sitting on a college lecture hall. Although he majored in geography and architecture, but when he first learned web development, he "never looked back" to his old expertise.

Examples like Jorge are many. But how to be like him, from a self-taught person to a professional UX designer?

1. Join the community and find yourself a mentor

You will never have a better source of knowledge than from a mentor, who has done it before.

"UX design is a valuable art that you learn through improvisation."

This topic on the Q&A network Quora has a great insight on how to do it, and it shows that you never get anything unless you have to give it first. Join local UX communities. Look for your local UX meetup events on Meetup.com , or if you prefer to join the online community, look for UX communities on Slack.

You will know more about this ever-growing field, and you will be able to create value for many people in the community. This value will come back to you if you are looking to create future relationships.

2. Search for learning experiences

You can't become a good UX designer unless you start building everything. Look for different challenges to get you started. Work around the examples on CodePen so you can build your own new effects.

Each UX designer starts with a few jobs that require them to practice their skills. Must build your skills and be exposed to end users. Let's start building a portfolio. As a designer, you will only be able to prove yourself by showing what you have built. The more you learn, the more things you will have to show to others and more opportunities will open up for you. This is a cycle of learning and development.

3. Make sure you have the resources you need

I have mentioned many resources you need to learn about UX yourself: you have to find the right resources and make sure you learn the most from them. This collection of UX resources will help you do that, rearranging it as fully and systematically as possible.

You can start with the basics, a detailed video of what UX design is , and advance to an overall class of UX components given by Adobe. You will progress through every component of UX design, from wireframing to building your own portfolio.

Once you have practiced through various resources, you can join the community like Sidebar.io , which will provide you with the latest design resources on daily activities.

4. Complete yourself and become a mentor for someone

UX designers are lifelong learners. There are many different ways to please users. You should never be complacent. UX Mag Magazine has a great article about what you should look for at good UX designers.

It will also require you to come back to create a new generation of UX designers. Teaching is often the fastest way to study, so make sure you also benefit from that win-win relationship.

Leo Tolstoy once wrote that "there is no greatness without lack of simplicity, kindness, and truth." As a UX designer, your career path will involve pursuing solutions. Elegant and simple for complex problems, goodness and truths come from empathy for users who need your solutions.

If you follow the steps above, you can achieve that great thing with a simple truth: you don't need a degree to succeed in UX design.

ITZone via Techmaster