In case you missed something, here’s a summary of 10 of our career-related resources we’ve published:

1. 10 Steps to a Perfect Portfolio. Luke takes us though some practical tips for the perfect UX portfolio.
2. Walk a Mile in your Interviewer’s Shoes. Kimberley demonstrates how you can tap into the skill of empathy to ace your next job interview.
3. 5 Ways to Stand Out When Applying for a UX Job. Troy Parke tells us what employers are looking for in a UXer during the hiring process.
4. Podcast—How to get an Awesome UX Job. Patrick Neeman talks about how to break into UX, create a portfolio, and manage your career.
5. UX Degrees: a global list of academic degrees being offered in fields related to UX.
6. Ask the UXperts—Getting Started in UX with Jodie Moule. You want UX? Jodie Moule answers the most diverse bunch of UX questions we’ve seen!
7. Review: Career Mind Mastery—Learn How to Get your Dream Job. Kimberley learns how to shift her mindset to land that coveted position.
8. UX is a Career. UX is many things—an industry, a philosophy, a process … but it’s also a career that needs to be nurtured.
9. Review: You’re Hired! How to Get a Job in Product Management. Sarah gets stuck into how to get a job in product management.
10. UX Careers Forum. The place to ask your questions on how to launch, grow, and manage your career as a UX designer.

Which of these posts resonated most with you? What type of career resources or information would you like to see in the future?

The post 10 Killer Resources to Boost your UX Career appeared first on UX Mastery.

We’ll be publishing all of these interviews in an upcoming ebook that showcases the personalities of the user experience field.

Here’s an excerpt from our chat with Jessica Enders, from Formulate Information Design in Melbourne, Australia.

Can you sketch out what a typical day looks like for you, from the time you wake up, maybe to the time you go to bed at night?

Well I definitely get up and I run about 10 kilometres, and then I … I’m just kidding, haha! A typical day for me would be, unfortunately, waking up tired—and I don’t have any children or anything to blame on! I don’t know why that is. I’m one of those people who needs 10 hours of sleep a night.

I’m generally raring to go in the mornings though—I get up, have breakfast, potter around and do a few things, then come in to work.

I usually check Twitter on my phone on the train on the way in, and read my email. I’m trying to get out of the habit of checking my email before I even get out of bed! I think it’s important to separate work and home life, or else you’re never going to get any serious downtime. I’ll usually have a major task in mind that I need to get done—whether it’s do those wireframes, or write that review or prepare that presentation—but I’ll check my emails just to make sure that nothing needs dealing with urgently, and to try to keep the inbox low if I can.

Then it’s getting on with that major task, and working backwards from deadlines to when I need to do things.

I usually try and tweet something relevant about form design in the afternoon. That way, it catches the people in Europe as well as people here. I’ll give a few retweets from over there and our Australian friends as well.

I basically get absorbed in one task and I will just solidly do that. I do have this piece of software that’s free called Time Out Free on my Mac that reminds me to take a break and stretch every hour, because I have kind of big problems with tension in my shoulders, neck and computer using stuff, so I would always stand up in the middle of the open hub, and “aeroplane” with my arms, and stretch my neck. No-one’s gotten up to join me yet, but I’m hoping they will eventually.

I usually grab lunch with some of the folks here in the office, or do some reading over lunch while I eat.

In the evenings I do a few different things—I’m learning Argentinean tango. I have a penchant for unusual dance styles, so I’ve done a couple of years of Egyptian, which is kind of like belly dancing, but a bit less cabaret/showgirl, and a bit more culturally aware. I did a few years of South Indian classical dancing, as well, haha. But my knees weren’t good enough for that, so now I’m into my third favourite which is Tango, which I love.

I’m also trying to learn French—I’m using some online software for that. Cooking dinner, doing chores, that sort of thing. I do jog, as well, occasionally, and probably watch an hour or two of TV before going to bed.

I always read fiction just before I got to sleep. I read so much non-fiction during the day that it’s nice to get taken away to somewhere different just before you fall asleep.

And I am at the moment trying to do meditation every day! So the plan is, when I get home from work, to do that. It helps me divide the working day and the evening.

My work is often in large chunks. When I’m working on a presentation or a design for a couple of days, that’s pretty much all I do. Then I deliver it to the client, and while they’re reviewing it, I catch up on some of my reading and doing some small things and just the business stuff—insurance or what have you. So it’s very much dictated by client projects and where they are and what they need.

You can follow Jessica on Twitter at @formulate.

The full transcript of this interview is available in our ebook, “Everyday UX”.
Let us know what you think of this interview. Are there any UXers you’d like us to interview in this series? Leave your suggestions in the comments.

The post UX Snapshot: An Interview With Jessica Enders appeared first on UX Mastery.

Let me begin with my own story: several years ago I had somewhat of a career crisis.

I hadn’t yet taken the leap to freelance at this stage; I was working in a salaried role at an organisation that was fun and provided opportunities for growth. I’d moved around between a couple of different roles, but was bemoaning the fact that I had become a jack of all trades and a master of none. Basically, I had become a very good generalist, and was uneasy about the fact.

• I could write code, but only if it solved a relatively simple problem. Once the problem became complicated or the code became more complex, I struggled to get my head around it. I’m a visual thinker, and code isn’t visual.
• I could design a user interface that looked good, but not amazing. I would scour sites like dribbble for inspiration, and come away feeling inadequate, having compared my work to the incredibly talented designers on display.

This is an internal conversation I’m sure many of you have had with yourself at some point in your career.

As is often the case, the answer to the question, “Should I generalise or specialise?” is: it depends. Jared Spool penned a great article from the perspective of someone hiring a UX Designer. In it he articulated the difference between a specialist (someone who brings a good deal of skills and experience in one or more specialties) and a compartmentalist (a person well versed in their specialty, but who doesn’t know anything beyond that area). Compartmentalists are likely to wash their hands of responsibility or deliver results that fall short when the work goes beyond their area of expertise. Don’t be that person!

Letting It Go

Many of us aim for deep knowledge and experience across the board. But is it possible to acquire deep knowledge in all areas under the UX umbrella? There are certainly some individuals who are capable of achieving an extraordinary degree of mastery in muliple areas. However, in my experience they truly are rare. The likes of Bret Victor, Cameron Adams and Shaun Inman don’t come along every day.

Other discussions on this topic advocate a middle ground—the T-shaped skill profile describes a practitioner who has shallow skills in all areas across the UX spectrum, but deep skills in one particular area. While this sounds like an ideal compromise, personally I’ve accepted—nay, embraced—the idea of being a true generalist, and compensate that by learning quickly as required. In fact, the one thing I love most about the UX field is the variety of opportunity, and that to succeed one needs to possess skills that drawn from a range of disciplines and adapt on each project.

So while you won’t find me creating a UI with the exquisite detail contained in some of the galleries of dribbble’s maestros or coding a complex interaction in JavaScript, I know that, should a project call for it, my learning curve to doing so is far less steep because I’ve got a headstart in all of them. A master generalist—that’s how I market myself, and that’s the kind of role I’m constantly striving to maintain.

However, there’s one absolutely crucial factor that played a huge role in my choosing to be a generalist.

Whether You Believe You Can Or Believe You Can’t, You’re Probably Right

At the end of the day, there are multiple career paths within the UX field. One thing I’ve learned, however, is that mindset is crucial when dealing with the self-doubt that can come from having shallow skills in an area that a client expects you to be an expert. I strongly believe this: learn enough to give yourself a solid background, back your ability to learn quickly, and you’ll stand a much greater chance of achieving success. You may have a realistic view of your own abilities, but there’s no need for your future client or employer to know the full story. Note I’m not advocating you be deceptive; just that, if you’re a quick learner, you should trust in your ability to get up to speed rapidly when the situation demands it.

If you doubt whether you’re up to the task, you’ll probably discover that you do indeed fall short. However, I’d encourage you to embrace those moments when you’re outside of your comfort zone. I always counter self-doubt with a question I read in Tim Ferris’s The 4-Hour Work Week—I ask myself the following:

Has someone less intelligent than you achieved what are trying to achieve?

Of course the answer is always, “Yes.” I find this answer to be incredibly motivating, and I hope you do too.

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts. Leave a comment below to tell me how you answer this question for yourself.

Related reading

• IxDA Discussion: Who Am I?
• UX Generalists & Specialists (Jason Robb)
• Should you hire A UX specialist or a UX generalist (Johnny Holland)
• How To: Adding Depth to UX with Generalists and Hybrids (CMS Wire)
• What Is User Experience (Crazy Egg)

This article has been translated into Russian by Dmitry Kabanov.

The post Should You Become A UX Generalist Or A UX Specialist? appeared first on UX Mastery.

Give us a rundown of how you came to work as a user experience practitioner, what it is you do, and what you love about it.

For the first 10 years of my working life I continued the path set at university: doing what I was good at because I wasn’t sure what I actually wanted to do. I was good at maths, logic, computer science, psychology. It was when a magnificent book called I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was fell into my hands that I realised my passion had always been for making usable forms. Whether I was temping at a doctor’s surgery or developing surveys for the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the design of the form – or whatever instrument that was used to collect data – was the bit that I loved by far the most.

That led me to explore what options were out there, and I discovered that there was a field called User Experience. I’d always thought the world needed this field but didn’t have it. To me, that “invisibility” is a sign of how young the field is.

I worked for about two years as a senior interaction designer at The Hiser Group but when I was being urged away from forms into more generalisation, I thought the time was ripe to try doing purely forms in a business of my own. I started Formulate Information Design in 2007, so it’s coming up to five years now.

People think I’m crazy to want to design forms. It’s as if I’m aspiring to be a garbage collector. But forms are actually so rich in so many different interesting areas: from sociology to linguistics; from business process engineering to visual perception. I’d dare any current or prospective UXer to find a more challenging, engaging and rewarding specialisation.

Every now and then we see passionate blog posts pop up, bemoaning the use of “UX” as a discipline and arguing that everyone involved in making a product should be thinking about the user experience, not just the “UX designer”. What are your thoughts on this?

To my mind, all design should be about creating great experiences. Otherwise, I say it’s art, not design. And let me be clear: a “great experience” means everything from pleasing aesthetics, to comfort, to functionality, to emotional engagement, to cost effectiveness and more, all of which applies to every stakeholder, not just the end users.

So I guess I’m in some agreement with those blog posts, but I also think the reality is that we can’t get (true) design to be a norm without first going through the period of establishing the field of user experience, with widespread recognition and influence. I’m deliberately using different terms because I think somewhere along the line user experience and design will need to come together. For as long as a chair can win a design award when you can’t actually sit in it for more than two minutes, I say we have a problem. Of course, I know there’s a whole design establishment with which I’m probably at odds by holding this view, but I guess that’s part of what makes me a passionate user advocate.

What’s your take on the state of user experience design in Australia, compared to the rest of the world?

Jon Kolko did a closing keynote at UX Australia last year and it was great to hear his enthusiasm and insight. One of his key points was that user experience “has arrived.” Maybe, when you’re doing projects with some very forward-thinking US corporates – who are naturally going to be attracted to a charismatic ‘rockstar’ of the field like Jon – it may seem like UX has made it. But I get the impression that no matter where in the world you are, down in the trenches, UX most certainly is not a default part of the conversation nor a frequent – let alone consistent – holder of power in the organisational hierarchy. I don’t mean to sound negative; I just think we’ve got a way to go yet before we have the influence that we should have.

Interestingly, some of the best and most effective form designers are here in Australia, with our North American counterparts lingering behind. Partially that’s because we’re less hamstrung by legislation here in Australia, partly I think it’s because we were graced by a wonderful leader in the late Rob Barnett. But even here in Australia we are still just a clutch of people trying to get heard by business and governments alike. After all, when was the last time you had a seamless form-filling experience?

What tips would you give to a print designer who was interested in transitioning to a career as a UX designer?

I would imagine that good print designers already have:

• an appreciation of the interplay between form and function;
• an ability to work within constraints; and
• good organisational skills.

This is an excellent core for any UX designer. Add to that a deep willingness to understand people’s needs, desires, perceptions and opinions, together with solid communicate skills, and I think realistically you have all you need to learn to be a UX designer on-the-job. Just make sure you are in an environment of experience and collaboration.

Let us know what attendees to UX Australia can expect from your workshop.

Let me first be clear that when I say “forms”, I mean any tool for collecting data, be it on the web, the desktop or on paper.

Attendees can expect a meaty and fun day spent learning the secrets of creating forms that just work, pleasing form-fillers and form-owners alike. People who have attended my sessions in the past always comment – with a sparkle in their eyes – that from that point onwards, they will never look at a form the same way. My workshops are always hands-on, people get to talk about their own experience (both as users and designers), and we cover lots of immediately applicable design solutions. And it doesn’t matter what your background is: print or otherwise; I guarantee you’ll get something positive and worthwhile out of the experience.

UX Australia is a two-day conference about user experience design. It’s on at the Sofitel Brisbane Central from 30-31 August, 2012, and features a ton of local and international presenters. There are also two days of workshops on August 28 and 29.

The post Jessica Enders: Forms with Finesse appeared first on UX Mastery.