Is it helpful to get a UX certificate or go to a UX conference as a starting point for a college undergraduate who wants to work on UX later but has no experience yet?
THE OCCASIONAL MENTOR
A monthly-ish column based on questions I’ve answered on Quora, heard on Slack groups, and other career advice I’ve given over the prior month. Hope you like it, but feel free to challenge me in the comments, if you have a different experience. Below are questions I answered in May.
Conferences are a Great Way to Meet Real UX Designers
I am going on be the contrarian and say absolutely go to a conference or a live meetup that is aligned with your UX interest. A UX certificate program will probably get you some basic skills. So would reading books and working on pro bono projects on your own. (See one of my previous answers on certificates). For someone just starting out, it’s the interaction with other attendees as much as the talks and workshops that help build your knowledge of what and who you need to know to get a job in the field.
You don’t necessarily have to pay full price to get a benefit. Most conferences offer student discounts or lower-cost workshops. Depending on where you live, live meetups can be plentiful and free or cheap. Online interest groups like Designers Guild on Facebook or UX Mastery on Slack are great ways to find a community. UX Mastery even has a mentoring program.
Keep in mind that the most valuable UX design skills are soft skills like communication, presentation and ability to make insights. Design tools are always evolving so what you learn at a boot camp may not be marketable in a few years.
UX Certificate Courses Help Build Skills and Confidence
Some positive things about taking a certificate course. You meet your competition and potential future coworkers. A formal program may be confidence-building if you fear you don’t have basic understanding of what UX designers do and how they do it. A course will help you get comfortable picking up these skills on your own. But do some research. Not all certificates or boot camps have a good reputation.
Meetups and other UX events are good places to ask about programs in your area. Even better: See if your university offers design courses that you can take as part of your degree. Look for intro level cognitive psychology and ethnography courses (typically anthropology classes that cover interviewing skills). If your school has business or entrepreneur programs, ask if they offer any design or customer discovery workshops. Many university UX Certificate programs are open to students school-wide and may be offered as Continuing Education programs.
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