Here’s my notes from the Big Design Conference’s Alphabet Soup talk put on by Joe Dyer. This is rapid fire note taking during a conference so please forgive my spelling and grammatical errors. Enjoy!
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There’s a few different types of people. Those who are very focused. The jack of all trades but the M or generalist is the path of attainment. A lot of these people end up as managers. They work all over the board, changes quickly and very in demand. Currently 15% specialists & 85% generalists. Web designers should do their own HTML/CSS according to 37 Signals. Know your medium.
Hard Skills IA, Visual Design etc
Soft Skills interpersonal, presentation, etc
Hard Skill: Information Architecture is about making things more simple. If you can’t back up your ideas with at least 2 sets of rational, try harder. Three areas to check for information:
JJG’s Visual Vocabulary
Eight shapes Unify
Boxes & Arrows
Graffletopia
Hard Skill: Visual Design: skin & look and feel
Smashing Magazine
Creatica
Method and Craft
Hard Skill: Presentation Layer Coding: HTML, CSS, Javascript
Smashing Magazine
960 Grid System
Andy Osmani
Soft Skills: Presenting
Note & Point
Slideshare
Sliderocket
Presentation Zen
Interpersonal Presenter
Soft Skills: Interpersonal Skills
Letting go of the deliverable
Give and receive
Knowledge sharing
Conflict resolution
Office politics
Collaboration
The art of project management – Scott Berkun
FYI For your Improvement
Soft Skill: Planning and time management
Lose the fire helmet
Be early, drive and the bus: Better to lead then follow
When to use which tool
Lifehacker.com
43folders.com
Teaux Deaux
Sharpen one blade at a time and then grow the others. The more you can contribute outside your area the more you can move up the ladder. Most designers according to A List Apart have a degree, a blog, time online 10 years, are often in larger organizations, most are freelancers / self employed (interesting how he skips over that as an option), top 10% are making 6 figures plus
What do UX Managers Do?
Internal: evangelize, network in company, hiring…
External: sales and clients
FYI For your Improvement a guide for development and coaching
Interviews
Must have an online presence – show a portfolio (It shows you care and are enthused)
Infographic resumes show your passion for design
What managers are looking for:
Passion
Good critical thinkers
Good communication
Coding ability
Serious commitment to the UX community
Soft Skills
Ability to think on your feet… even those with awesome portfolios fall flat here…. Can you get up and illustrate you can think on your feet in a second
Barriers to success:
Not asking questions: repeated technical mistakes
Slow skills development stuck in old methods
Working alone too much
Lack of accountability for problems
No prioritizing, scattered, always putting out fires
Overly focused on micro areas of interest
In summary play the odds and be a generalist. Technology changes and be ready to adapt. Sharpen one blade at a time and build then a 6 figure income is completely within your grasp.
Google infographic resume
