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When you’re purchasing something online, expanding your social network, or reading a blog (what a coincidence!) do you ever wonder who designs these interactions? As I mentioned during our last podcast, this episode of CareerCast would explore the User Experience job market and the professionals who apply a mixture of technology and creativity to make your online experiences possible. Thanks to Jonathan and his special guest, this episode delivers.[/accent]
Director of Account Services, Jonathan Restaino at Onward Search and User Experience expert, Keith Laferriere joined host Peter Clayton to discuss what User Experience (UX) professionals do and what trends they are seeing in this particular job market.
To start, Jonathan and Keith provide a great summary of what UX is: how someone feels, interacts with and reacts to a product, service or website. It boils down to the visual, functional and interactive components you encounter as a user, especially when you’re online. The UX professionals who design these experiences hail from a range of backgrounds. Keith describes those involved with, “It reaches basically every sense of the gamut from creative to production to the digital output – every single person that has anything to do with a customer journey is part of the user experience team.”
If you’re interested in becoming a UX professional, Jonathan offers great advice and insight regarding the market: “…you’re seeing not only recent college graduates but talent that have been in the field, been designers, been researchers, going back and getting a further education in human factors or user experience essentially.” He explains that despite the tight market, those who are experts in a particular area that can also apply an understanding of related fields will find the most success.
So what does this all mean in terms of skill sets and the education needed to join the industry? Unfortunately, since the industry is still very young, it’s tough to accurately compartmentalize the education, skill sets and titles held by these professionals. On the plus side, your interest in research and web design can just as easily support a UX career as a focus on Human Factors and mobile application design.
The User Experience industry is growing rapidly because more and more companies are recognizing the importance of tailoring their online offerings to the needs and preferences of their customers. The future of UX is a bright one so if you’re interested in pursuing it, Jonathan and Keith agree that now is the time to jump in!
This is a great episode, full of valuable insight including Keith’s explanation about why people don’t want to think too much and what this has to do with UX. You can listen to the entire podcast and read the transcript on our CareerCast page for the full story.
Don’t forget to check in on all our latest opportunities related to User Experience and interactive marketing.
