Hi

I studied UX design at collage and would really like to get a job in this field but cant afford to go to university

Could you other some tip on how to get in to this field and share your experiences.


Much appreciation Mike

bumb for love <3

My path wasn't directly into UX design (though in hindsight the signs were there), but via website and app development. I was a designer/coder first and that experience has proven invaluable (pardon the pun).

I got into UX design because I had the sneaking suspicion my companies and clients were trying to do too much and I didn't know why. I also wanted to be able to explain design decisions instead of going off of what looked nice or seemed cool.

I read everything I could and tried to apply what I could understand. I made my share of mistakes and I'm sure I still do. But the more I learned, the more I tried, the more people I found who supported me and made it possible for me to grow into the role. Eventually I went from front-end designer/developer to strictly UX design.

School can save you years worth of effort, but determination and self-education are vital no matter what. Make the most of opportunities as they arise.

Wish I could give you a clearer path, but if my path is any indication, there isn't one

I worked in UX for a year or two. No college experience.

I got there on a long route starting in QA. I did end-user non-automated QA for a security software firm. So, my job was to make sure the app worked right everything "looked" right. You know, stuff that a computer can't really "know." UX hasn't really been a "field" for very long (it was always integrated into either QA, marketing, or UI design at my companies) but I see a lot of "UX" positions now-a-days.

There are a lot of avenues, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Burgermeister went through coding, I went through QA.

(PS: Now-a-days my career path in UX took me toward performance management and now I'm a professional benchmarker).

Thanks for both of your advise most appreciated. I might look in to some QA work as although I enjoy and work alot in app making ect. I can never complete them on my own as I struggle with both inspiration and the main back end coding( net code :/ hurt my head) but i love make and working with the Ui and UX.

again thanks for your posts

VonBurgermeister; what kind of sources do you look at regularly for UX deepthought / research? UX is a major professional interest of mine (I'm a dev with a focus on UI design and implementation), but I only recently noticed 'UX' as a separate discipline. Or, perhaps, what would you describe being a UX designer as being that makes it distinct from "dev with a focus on UI design and implementation"?

sorry had to. silly mistake that's really funny.

No one can afford to go to University! That doesn't mean you don't go! Just fill out all the grants, loans, yadda yadda you can, live inside the Financial Aid office until you get one of them to say the words, "You have done everything you can, now you just have to wait."
And then ride the train until you have a degree.

If you are too poor to get a degree then you can't really get much more poor, and school loan debt isn't as bad as normal debt, so be poor with a degree! Those things are practically designed to be paid back over the next 30 years!

One way to separate UI and UX design is to use a car metaphor. UI design is concerned with how the car looks and UX is concerned with how it feels to hold the key, slip into the car, and drive. UX designers would be concerned with how the car fits into your life and how your satisfaction with it. Have to be careful with asking a UX designer that question; the answers are often philosophical.

UIE Brain Sparks, UX Booth, and UX Matters are all resources on my feed list.

*strokes chin* Veeeeeery eeeeenteresting.

Hey, Riot hiring UX Designers?