How did I get into the UX
This article is about motivation and that you shouldn’t stay up in a place that a few years ago was called the offensive word “Webmaster”.
Insulting, because it did not require to have a higher education, did not promise a bright salary and did not require deep scientific knowledge in order to satisfy the demand for a product - a regular website. Today the site is not just an attribute of presence on the Internet. Today the site is a tool for controlling the will and consciousness of a huge number of living people. And “Webmasters” are not suitable for its development, but a whole team of narrow specialists is required.
Today, the site must have a lot of faces: versions for mobile devices, cross-browser versions, versions for different screen widths, and whole mobile applications that become “Masthev” at the speed of light for any service provided via the Internet. In front of the scale of such a task, a webmaster of all is lost. Although I should simply ask myself the right direction in development and grow along with the WWW, benefiting myself and all of humanity.
I will tell about how I solved this question for myself.
That May day did not foretell anything special. All in all on my head the thought came: "Nothing is impossible."
I have long dreamed of working professionally in the field of IT. Actually, I have been doing this for 8 years now. I am a freelancer with deep experience in developing turnkey websites, I am developing mobile interfaces, and I pay well for the design of print ads. But when I say “to work professionally in the field of IT”, I mean something more.
I want something more upscale, more serious, more meaningful. Something that would give me not only recognition, but also the satisfaction of my creative ambitions.
Creative ambitions, as a rule, I satisfy with money. Accordingly, the question arose:
')
I was surprised to find out that being a designer is much more profitable than a typesetter or even a programmer. This applies to web designers as well as printers.
Analyzed supply and demand in the labor market, the region - Moscow. It turned out quite curious: Designers with my experience get exactly the same amount as lawyers pay with my experience, if this experience were legal. She stopped regretting that it did not turn out to become a worthy lawyer. Although, I do not remember what I would have to regret about it. After all, I still became a popular web designer, even against the wishes of my surroundings. This is doubly valuable since it came from the heart.
I realized my own importance and went to bed with a proud peace of mind.
In the morning, I was insistently awakened by a new thought: “Why not go and take this money, since they are so easily distributed for talent?” And I said to myself: “Yes!”.
And it was here that the monkey inside of me - the one that is smart and beautiful at the same time - almost fell apart in two. And which of my talents would I like to sell more expensive? After all, freelancing requires a web designer to be a designer, programmer, seo optimizer, copywriter, and usability analyst, SMM marketer and merchandiser, as well as a project manager with fluency in English.
I hung out in earnest. After all, “to go into hiring” means “to go into a narrow specialization”, it outlines the development prospects in the coming years only in one of the directions. And the experience in IT is such a capricious friend. It is so easy to lose, turning away for a moment. The IT sphere is developing so quickly that there is no need to convince you of this.
So I continued my research on the subject of salaries and turned to recruiting agencies. Here, for example, one of the professional players in the domestic HR market in the field of IT - BigFish (http://www.bfrecruitment.ru/) fairly spoiled my imagination with numerous variations on the profession of a web designer, as well as the salary range offered to people rare self-expression. Among them are: a digital designer (one bigfish is clear what kind of beast is), WEB-architect, WEB-designer, Web-interface designer, Creator, Strategist, UI / UX designer.
Despite the fact that she has the essence of these professions, the latter proudly stood two steps away from the rest in terms of salary - the bait that BigFish wants to catch for itself this unseen person, and then make good money on his employment. Judging by the size of the bait, it should have been a professional of the highest class, with a certain set of knowledge and experience.
It is interesting to know how? We go further.
We should start with the fact that such a strange combination of “UI / UX” exists only in the imagination of employers who do not want to go broke to two different specialists. Meanwhile, the UI and UX designer are functionally and logically the essence of two different professions.
We decipher. User Interface (UI) designer - develops the appearance of all that may be a user interface. It's funny, but in some cases the leaflet is also an interface, and surprisingly user-friendly. Let's reject the unnecessary and conclude briefly: the user interface is the front-end interface, which aims to encourage the user to perform certain actions. In the grip of modern reality, everything in the world comes down to sales. It is their purpose to extract UI-designer with their creativity. The main knowledge that the UI designer is required to operate is Usability. Oh yes! Higher specialized education is required.
Everything is more complicated and interesting with User Experience (UX) - “experience of interaction” of the user with the interface. The task of the UX-designer is to extract and measure this experience with the help of certain tools and to stand out from it a new experience that will be used in the design of an improved version of the interface. Interface design too - the task of the UX-designer. Therefore, he must be able to operate with such UX-components as: information architecture, interaction design, graphic design and content. That is, to know this sense and be able to correctly enter into the product structure.
According to the requirements of UI / UX vacancies on BigFish, the candidate for this position should have a higher education (and the education profile is not indicated), but the availability of specialized advanced training courses is not just welcome, I am obligatory. It also requires the ability to design interfaces for mobile applications, knowledge of the popular ERP and CRM systems, experience in the field of design \ Web-design. And just something?
It would seem that all these skills are available. They have at their disposal any average web-developer.
It remains to demonstrate their high level. What was the decision to rework the portfolio, create a new website, comb the profiles for behance and upwork (is it worth mentioning the domestic FL?). And most importantly, give yourself the opportunity to gain new experience and turn it into a step on the way to your dream. I analyzed the weaknesses of my portfolio and decided to correct them with new projects.
Unfortunately, not all knowledge can come with experience. Much will have to learn from traditional sources.
I am not one of those who do not need a “higher education”. It was "necessary" for me, always and more necessary, in view of the above.
In order not to blush, when in BigFish they will shake my pieces of paper, I went and entered the magistracy of the International Institute of Advertising ( http://www.iia.ru ) the same day, as I dreamed from a young age. After hesitating for 15 years, I did not hesitate a second, transferring money for tuition. After 2.5 years I will have a degree in web design.
This will be my first book. Dreaming is not bad ...
Training directly UX costs a lot of money. Those who managed to get used to the new profession are in no hurry to share knowledge in open source.
The courses that are offered in Russia did not inspire confidence in me, and I decided to refer to the sources. To date, the center of UX design is the UK and (unexpectedly) India.
I chose the General Assembley, UK courses. ( https://generalassemb.ly ) And BLOCK Bootcamp ( https://www.bloc.io )
I decided to earn money for education ... to make money.
Suddenly.
Many freelancers go into hiring (we call it “go to the office”) in order to organize your life and consolidate the experience. Many leave the office to give freedom to self-development again. For many, going back and forth is a painful step. For me, hiring is a conscious choice. I do it for the sake of science. (My God! Of course, for the money!)
In addition, when you spend days and nights for months, sitting in front of the monitor in your shorts, and the measure of your communication with the outside world comes down to two phrases: “Well, when will it be ready?” And “well, finally”, hiring is able to give and other options. “Ekaterina is a high-class specialist. Let's set the front tasks adequate to its level. " Such “little things” help solve various problems with motivation. In some cases, you can ogresti, but for some reason this does not stop me.
Gathering my courage, I laid out all my advantages briefly and in the matter in the form of a summary on HH.ru , attached the most concise portfolio (for special cases) and prepared to receive calls. Frankly, the calls would not have fallen from the sky if I had not sent 40 responses to vacancies on a daily basis.
My resume hung on hh two business days. By the end of the second day, I received 3 invitations. I went through all 3 interviews and accepted offer number 1.
Responsibilities of the vacancy read: website, identity, advertising.
At the meeting, I voiced the following:
- We are introducing a new product. This will be a kind of portal in which users can manage their services from various devices. Perhaps we will develop customized versions for individual users and user groups. We would like you to apply your knowledge and experience in this direction.
- Do you want me to develop a user interface for you?
- Yes…
***
Perhaps it is time to interrupt this stream of thoughts with a significant ellipsis. In the near future I have a lot of work.
Paolo Coelho, who many times led me astray, said: "When you follow your dream, the whole Universe helps you."
So this article was born, like a love letter. Lightning fast, from the very depths of the heart.
And not that I loved and respected Coelho as the greatest writer of our time, but this uncle this time turned out to be hellishly right ...
Being a UI / UX designer is what it is.
Insulting, because it did not require to have a higher education, did not promise a bright salary and did not require deep scientific knowledge in order to satisfy the demand for a product - a regular website. Today the site is not just an attribute of presence on the Internet. Today the site is a tool for controlling the will and consciousness of a huge number of living people. And “Webmasters” are not suitable for its development, but a whole team of narrow specialists is required.
Today, the site must have a lot of faces: versions for mobile devices, cross-browser versions, versions for different screen widths, and whole mobile applications that become “Masthev” at the speed of light for any service provided via the Internet. In front of the scale of such a task, a webmaster of all is lost. Although I should simply ask myself the right direction in development and grow along with the WWW, benefiting myself and all of humanity.
I will tell about how I solved this question for myself.
That May day did not foretell anything special. All in all on my head the thought came: "Nothing is impossible."
I have long dreamed of working professionally in the field of IT. Actually, I have been doing this for 8 years now. I am a freelancer with deep experience in developing turnkey websites, I am developing mobile interfaces, and I pay well for the design of print ads. But when I say “to work professionally in the field of IT”, I mean something more.
I want something more upscale, more serious, more meaningful. Something that would give me not only recognition, but also the satisfaction of my creative ambitions.
Creative ambitions, as a rule, I satisfy with money. Accordingly, the question arose:
')
And for what now give dough?
I was surprised to find out that being a designer is much more profitable than a typesetter or even a programmer. This applies to web designers as well as printers.
Analyzed supply and demand in the labor market, the region - Moscow. It turned out quite curious: Designers with my experience get exactly the same amount as lawyers pay with my experience, if this experience were legal. She stopped regretting that it did not turn out to become a worthy lawyer. Although, I do not remember what I would have to regret about it. After all, I still became a popular web designer, even against the wishes of my surroundings. This is doubly valuable since it came from the heart.
I realized my own importance and went to bed with a proud peace of mind.
In the morning, I was insistently awakened by a new thought: “Why not go and take this money, since they are so easily distributed for talent?” And I said to myself: “Yes!”.
And it was here that the monkey inside of me - the one that is smart and beautiful at the same time - almost fell apart in two. And which of my talents would I like to sell more expensive? After all, freelancing requires a web designer to be a designer, programmer, seo optimizer, copywriter, and usability analyst, SMM marketer and merchandiser, as well as a project manager with fluency in English.
I hung out in earnest. After all, “to go into hiring” means “to go into a narrow specialization”, it outlines the development prospects in the coming years only in one of the directions. And the experience in IT is such a capricious friend. It is so easy to lose, turning away for a moment. The IT sphere is developing so quickly that there is no need to convince you of this.
So I continued my research on the subject of salaries and turned to recruiting agencies. Here, for example, one of the professional players in the domestic HR market in the field of IT - BigFish (http://www.bfrecruitment.ru/) fairly spoiled my imagination with numerous variations on the profession of a web designer, as well as the salary range offered to people rare self-expression. Among them are: a digital designer (one bigfish is clear what kind of beast is), WEB-architect, WEB-designer, Web-interface designer, Creator, Strategist, UI / UX designer.
Despite the fact that she has the essence of these professions, the latter proudly stood two steps away from the rest in terms of salary - the bait that BigFish wants to catch for itself this unseen person, and then make good money on his employment. Judging by the size of the bait, it should have been a professional of the highest class, with a certain set of knowledge and experience.
It is interesting to know how? We go further.
Who is a UI / UX designer?
We should start with the fact that such a strange combination of “UI / UX” exists only in the imagination of employers who do not want to go broke to two different specialists. Meanwhile, the UI and UX designer are functionally and logically the essence of two different professions.
We decipher. User Interface (UI) designer - develops the appearance of all that may be a user interface. It's funny, but in some cases the leaflet is also an interface, and surprisingly user-friendly. Let's reject the unnecessary and conclude briefly: the user interface is the front-end interface, which aims to encourage the user to perform certain actions. In the grip of modern reality, everything in the world comes down to sales. It is their purpose to extract UI-designer with their creativity. The main knowledge that the UI designer is required to operate is Usability. Oh yes! Higher specialized education is required.
Everything is more complicated and interesting with User Experience (UX) - “experience of interaction” of the user with the interface. The task of the UX-designer is to extract and measure this experience with the help of certain tools and to stand out from it a new experience that will be used in the design of an improved version of the interface. Interface design too - the task of the UX-designer. Therefore, he must be able to operate with such UX-components as: information architecture, interaction design, graphic design and content. That is, to know this sense and be able to correctly enter into the product structure.
According to the requirements of UI / UX vacancies on BigFish, the candidate for this position should have a higher education (and the education profile is not indicated), but the availability of specialized advanced training courses is not just welcome, I am obligatory. It also requires the ability to design interfaces for mobile applications, knowledge of the popular ERP and CRM systems, experience in the field of design \ Web-design. And just something?
It would seem that all these skills are available. They have at their disposal any average web-developer.
It remains to demonstrate their high level. What was the decision to rework the portfolio, create a new website, comb the profiles for behance and upwork (is it worth mentioning the domestic FL?). And most importantly, give yourself the opportunity to gain new experience and turn it into a step on the way to your dream. I analyzed the weaknesses of my portfolio and decided to correct them with new projects.
Unfortunately, not all knowledge can come with experience. Much will have to learn from traditional sources.
How to deal with specialized education?
I am not one of those who do not need a “higher education”. It was "necessary" for me, always and more necessary, in view of the above.
In order not to blush, when in BigFish they will shake my pieces of paper, I went and entered the magistracy of the International Institute of Advertising ( http://www.iia.ru ) the same day, as I dreamed from a young age. After hesitating for 15 years, I did not hesitate a second, transferring money for tuition. After 2.5 years I will have a degree in web design.
This will be my first book. Dreaming is not bad ...
Training directly UX costs a lot of money. Those who managed to get used to the new profession are in no hurry to share knowledge in open source.
The courses that are offered in Russia did not inspire confidence in me, and I decided to refer to the sources. To date, the center of UX design is the UK and (unexpectedly) India.
I chose the General Assembley, UK courses. ( https://generalassemb.ly ) And BLOCK Bootcamp ( https://www.bloc.io )
I decided to earn money for education ... to make money.
How I became a UI designer
Suddenly.
Many freelancers go into hiring (we call it “go to the office”) in order to organize your life and consolidate the experience. Many leave the office to give freedom to self-development again. For many, going back and forth is a painful step. For me, hiring is a conscious choice. I do it for the sake of science. (My God! Of course, for the money!)
In addition, when you spend days and nights for months, sitting in front of the monitor in your shorts, and the measure of your communication with the outside world comes down to two phrases: “Well, when will it be ready?” And “well, finally”, hiring is able to give and other options. “Ekaterina is a high-class specialist. Let's set the front tasks adequate to its level. " Such “little things” help solve various problems with motivation. In some cases, you can ogresti, but for some reason this does not stop me.
Gathering my courage, I laid out all my advantages briefly and in the matter in the form of a summary on HH.ru , attached the most concise portfolio (for special cases) and prepared to receive calls. Frankly, the calls would not have fallen from the sky if I had not sent 40 responses to vacancies on a daily basis.
My resume hung on hh two business days. By the end of the second day, I received 3 invitations. I went through all 3 interviews and accepted offer number 1.
Responsibilities of the vacancy read: website, identity, advertising.
At the meeting, I voiced the following:
- We are introducing a new product. This will be a kind of portal in which users can manage their services from various devices. Perhaps we will develop customized versions for individual users and user groups. We would like you to apply your knowledge and experience in this direction.
- Do you want me to develop a user interface for you?
- Yes…
***
Perhaps it is time to interrupt this stream of thoughts with a significant ellipsis. In the near future I have a lot of work.
Paolo Coelho, who many times led me astray, said: "When you follow your dream, the whole Universe helps you."
So this article was born, like a love letter. Lightning fast, from the very depths of the heart.
And not that I loved and respected Coelho as the greatest writer of our time, but this uncle this time turned out to be hellishly right ...
Being a UI / UX designer is what it is.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/291350/
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