User experience education choices

A friend has asked me recently for an overview of options to go into User Experience Design from another career. While I’m still a novice in the field, I have spent a number of months researching this topic, so thought I’d share my findings here. These are relevant for those based in the UK and in London in particular.

There are three main paths to get into UX:

• Self taught
• Short ‘bootcamp’ courses
• University courses, either undergrad or masters.

They all have their advantages and disadvantages, so it really depends on the individual and their circumstances, as to which one of these three would suit them.

Self taught

This route is most suited for people who already work in the field or have some familiarity with it (all of the people I know who have done this, have converted from developer/programmer or from digital marketing) and — goes without saying — relies on huge self discipline.

There are tons of online resources and tons of books. I’m happy to recommend the ones I have come across (there are loads of UX courses on Udemy.com, for example).

Some people also take super short courses (1–3 day) to get a basic introduction to the field, and then go off to do their own thing. These courses usually cost between a few hundred to a few thousand ££ depending on quality and length. The best super short course I’ve heard of is run in London by David Travis.

Bootcamp courses

These are between 3–6 months, and cost a ton: £6–10K (fees usually upfront). I have researched these A LOT — as initially I was thinking of doing this. And indeed, this is how most people convert to UX from other professions.

However, there are some criticisms of these. The biggest criticism is that 3–6 months is too short to understand the subject in depth. So these courses often focus on helping you create a polished portfolio that makes you look as if you know what you are on about, but in reality your portfolio and your knowledge may be lacking in depth. Having said that, if you are a determined individual who will dedicate every minute of your time during the course to learn the new skill, and are then prepared to dive into a potentially gruesome job hunt (with no expectation of magically walking into your dream job on day one!) then this is a good, quick, intense option that works for many people.

There are, of course, people who do walk into their dream job straight after a bootcamp; you will read plenty of online reviews written by them, but be aware that a gambler’s fallacy may be at play here.

A further criticism (related to the one above) is that junior UX designers coming from these courses have flooded the market, making it hard for employers to know who is good and who is not. So some employers may find these courses listed on CVs off-putting.

Another crucial thing to remember with these bootcamps is that ultimately the people who run them are salespeople. So they will make it seem as if this is a perfect course, and will pressure you into signing up. Resist unless you are 100% sure this is right for you. The same goes for the claims of “Job Guarantee within XYZ Months Or Your Money Back!” offered by quite a few of these courses. If you read the fine print, you will realise just how difficult it is to fulfill every single one of their conditions in order to get the money back if you fail to land a job.

The bootcamp courses I was considering:

• General Assembly (London based, in person, really popular — I even went to a few of their lectures and socials)
• Careerfoundry (online, but with tutors within your timezone)
• DesignLab (again, online)
• Flatironschool (London based, in person)

You can compare the courses and read their reviews at Switchup.org and Coursereport.com.

Bear in mind that people who write raving reviews on these comparison sites may be pressured to do so by the course organisers, or may do it because they don’t want to undermine their only UX credentials on their CV.

University

The one I chose — though of course not necessarily right for everyone!

University is… well… university. Huge, academic, slow on the uptake, and the degrees take ages to complete. The course I chose was a Masters — 1 year full time. A Masters in Human-Computer Interaction Design (or HCID, basically the same as UX) costs around £10K, but you can delay payment if you apply for a graduate student loan (any UK resident can do this unless they have completed another Masters in the past).

This option appealed to me firstly because of my background (I have a bunch of prior degrees and feel most comfortable learning in a university environment), secondly because it is longer and more in-depth than the bootcamp version, and thirdly because there is a nice honesty about it, far removed from the world of salespeople. For example, during an open day I asked one of the lecturers, “What do you do to help students build portfolios?” He replied that they don’t help at all — instead, they provide content via the projects that the students create during the course. Beyond that, it’s up to the student which projects they choose to showcase and how to showcase them. Universities focus on the in-depth content and not on the final polished portfolio (in contrast with the bootcamps).

Furthermore, at university one has time and opportunity to build a specialism within the field, which can literally be anything one can think of in the realm of UX — in my chosen course, people have done stuff ranging from VR to designing for the disabled to data visualisation. Universities boast connections to the industry in the shape of job fairs, visiting lecturers, and work placements. So if you are a complete novice, this can be very appealing.

There are drawbacks here, too, of course. The first one is cost — even if you have your course fees covered with a loan, you still have to face living without a salary for a year — no mean feat if you have been holding a paid job prior to your career switch.

The second drawback is that universities tend to be slightly behind the industry. This is because the latter evolves super fast, whereas the former have some inertia built into them. However, I don’t see this as a major drawback as I know I can pick up the latest tools of the trade in my own time.

HCID Masters courses in London:

• City University HCI Masters — the one I’m going to do. Wonderful first impressions, great conferences held for prospective students and professionals, great communication. They have a reputation for being one of the best for mature students looking for a career change.
• Kingston University — I have not researched this much, as this is too far out of town for me.
• University College London — an amazing institution! Unfortunately, I didn’t qualify for their HCID programme because I didn’t have a prior degree in computing or psychology, or any related work experience in UX.

What path do the employers want to see?

From my research, most employers will say that they don’t care how you got there as long as you can demonstrate that you can do the job. I think of it as being a bit similar to photography: in this field, no-one cares about your degrees and qualifications, all they care about is your output.

However, it varies somewhat across the field and a few employers do ask for HCID degrees.

And finally…

ITJobsWatch.co.uk is the website many IT professionals use to assess their job demand and the salary ranges — search for ‘User Experience Designer’ in London to get an idea of how many jobs are out there and how much they pay.