Ask Eric: Questions & Answers

July 15, 2010 – submitted by Janhavi Bijur of Pune, India

Question: I have been working in the eLearning field as a Visual Designer for the past 5 years. We practice usability on a day-to-day basis except that the terminology "User Research/ User Experience" is not attached to the tasks. I have been reading up a lot on usability and user-centered research for the past few months and am quite interested in shifting my domain expertise to this field.

As I have no formal experience of usability practices, etc. in terms of a certification/ work experience I intend to individually and personally undergo the HFI workshop and gain more knowledge about this field. Since I'm a little confused I need your advice, hence do you feel that it would be right for a person like me with my skillsets and experience to formally undergo a training in HFI & a certification first rather than going in for a basic small-time introductory course to begin with. It'll be great if you could provide me with your insight on this.

Eric's response: The first thing that will help is to get a distinction clear between 'Practicing Usability on a Day to Day Basis' and professional work in the field. Unfortunately, the world is full of folks today who have good intentions, but are saying that they are usability professionals without even a basic understanding of the field. This is sad as they are seen as exemplars of the field and make the field look like it is of little value. Usability engineering is not a common sense endeavor. Without serious training and skills you are not doing usability work. You are just thinking that you are, and perhaps telling others. I therefore applaud your intention to be serious about usability engineering capabilities.

Ideally I would like to see you taking a Masters program in the usability field. There are great programs in the USA (we have a list on our site), but there are limited programs available in India. Even without the Masters you will be able to take the HFI courses and not get lost. And these courses can give a good practical foundation (which many people use to attempt to pass the test to become a Certified Usability Analyst™ (CUA). The CUA probably credentializes 10% of the world's population of competent usability folks. So it is probably not a bad idea to get that in place.

Finally, try to get work in a group with the best UX leadership you can find. There is no substitute for that kind of practical mentoring on real projects. Best of luck

April 13, 2010 – submitted by Joshua S of Coconut Creek, FL

Question: I'm 20 years old. I've been building websites since I was 10, the last 4 of which I consider "UI design." I've been self-taught my whole life and firmly believe a school cannot offer the insight and logic discovered when working with hands-on projects.

Unfortunately, unless I start my own company, I know a degree is necessary for a decent salary. When I graduated high school 2 years ago, I began college. However, I found the college process unintuitive and frustrating.

My true passion and love is web/UI design and UX. I really need to be pointed in the right direction! I'm worried that a degree in Human Factors is not sought after when companies hire. Is Human Factors a desirable degree? Also, I don't want just any college. I want to know who's *best* at UX.

Eric's response: Well this is an interesting question. In general I would say that a Masters degree is the normal operating credential for UX work. And, I would say that there is a foundation of understanding in psychology and HCI that is pretty important and that is hard to get outside of that kind of degree work. Companies generally look for a Masters degree when they are hiring. That is for sure.

I have known a FEW people who have been self taught, and then mentored in work settings, who did good work in the field. Most people without a degree, who say they are self taught, don't know what they don't know and are not useful at all. BUT, there are individuals who are quite strong.

So, if you can manage to get a degree that is the best thing. There are plenty of programs (we have a list on our site). You won't be sorry if you go for a degree.

If you can't manage the degree, then you urgently need to find an organization with a large UX team who will give you a chance. This is going to be very hard in this economy. But without that, you will almost certainly end up thinking you are fantastic, while having your main competency being self-delusion and not UX.

I often have people come to HFI sure that they are the best UX designer in the world. In some cases they get in to take our exams. But ALMOST always they are in the self-delusion category. I always feel ALWFUL to have to pop that bubble. But I think a life of self delusion is not really the best path.

February 8, 2010 – submitted by Ganesan T S S of Chennai, India

Eric's response: Our field as been called many things.

• Engineering Psychology
• Personnel Subsystem Design
• Human Factors Engineering
• Ergonomics
• Usability
• User Experience

Sorry. It was not my idea.

The switch from Usability to User Experience flagged a wider viewpoint. We are not just concerned that it is possible for people to use software. We are concerned about the whole user experience. We care about the experience the customer has in walking into the bank. We care about the integration of mobile and net channels. We care about how our designs fit into complex ecosystems with many users all interacting. We are also concerned beyond performance. We care about the emotional reaction to design. We care about persuasion engineering. We care about conversion. We are also moving beyond just design and getting involved in strategy and innovation.

But basically yes. It is the same stuff. :)