User Experience Qualifications - Top 10, Kind Of
Posted Monday, April 30 2007 by The JobsBloggers
Many of you have asked about what attributes are important to showcase on a User Experience (UX) resume and are curious about what classes are out there to prepare for this compelling career path.
Interestingly enough, many schools are adding these programs if they didn't already exist in their curriculum, so there seems to be a surge of interest in the field. There are many ‘user’-focused degrees and certifications available out there, so we'll write about those in a future post.
But for now, Frank and I (with the help of newly-hired Researcher, Tazin Shadid) have attempted to put together a TOP 10 LIST of what a UX Hiring Manager looks for in a UX Designer and UX Researcher.
Okay, okay - we were short a few on each list BUT we'd love to hear comments from those of you who know more so we can fill in the list further.
For a Designer:
1. Portfolio of various work in Interaction Design and/or Information Architecture
2. Prior design experience and/or an internship in a Win32 or web-based environment
3. Degree (or equivalent work experience) in Design or Computer Science
4. Mastery of design tools and applications
5. Excellent interpersonal, communication, negotiation and leadership skills
6. Experience with design & research methodologies
7. Working knowledge of Winforms, WPF, C#, XAML are also big pluses
For Researchers:
1. Advanced degree in Human Factors, Human Computer Interaction (HCI) or Cognitive Psychology (or equivalent work experience)
2. Prior experience in a research capacity
3. Deep knowledge of various research and lab assessment methodologies (specifically RITE)
4. Working knowledge of design principles and methodologies
5. Experience working with Interaction Designers
6. Technology background
7. Excellent interpersonal, communication, negotiation and leadership skills
In our opinion, these are things that would definitely jump out in a resume and might form the core of someone's qualifications for a job in this area.
Of course they're not the only things that are important though - so what would you add?
- Angela
5 commentsTagged as: career-paths-at-microsoft, college-recruiting, industry-recruiting, international-recruiting, angela, job-hunting
Comments
Helpful post. How about a top 10 list for a Lead SDE or a SDE position?
TI - I will put the Top 10 for SDE and LEAD on my TO DO list for sure!
I'm curious as to what kind of vendor-neutral certs microsoft "likes." Right now I'm studying for my network+. For the uninitiated, it can be tough to find the right cert, especially if its vendor-specific. Microsoft has so many certs its hard to know which one to choose! That's ok though.
I chose to study and spend some time and money on my network+ (and yes, I would like to work @ microsoft). The worst they can say is no!
David,
Unfortunately there is no simple and straight answer to your question. The best cert's to have will be dictated by the position you are applying for. We have so many jobs at so many different levels of experience that what may be necessary for one job, may not be required for another even though they have the same title. Does that make any sense? :-)
The best advice I would give you is to know what career path you want to pursue and focus your efforts in attaining the standard checklist certs for that given field. If your goal is to become a network engineer, an MCSE is a great start, followed by the typical Cisco certs and anything else you want to focus on. But keep in mind that certs only go so far. If all you have are a bunch of certs and no practical experience, it will be very difficult to get your foot in the door. Getting that real-world experience is a critical key factor in landing that dream job.
Good luck - hope to see you around these parts someday!
-Frank
Yes, it sure is a helpful post.. Can you comment on my portfolio?
www.pixgrafx.com
UX Designer at Microsoft is my dream job and I am sure that at some point of time in my life, my dream will come true : )
I would keep applying..
-Ramesh