Google UX finished in two months! My study method and comprehensive evaluation

my learning background

• Previous experience in the media industry
• No graphics software experience
  

In this article , I have roughly shared why I chose to take a Google UX course. At first, of course, I was a little nervous, because I scanned the syllabus and found that I needed to use Figma and Adobe XD to do Wireframe, mockup, and further design low-fi and high-fi prototypes. I used to be a hard worker who only used Cava to do graphics (I skipped class after taking an Ai class in college), and I doubted whether I could really do my homework.

Now it has been proved that I actually quickly accumulated three "pretty-like" works within two months, and even came up with the structure of the portfolio in order to graduate, which is amazing in retrospect. And at the same time, I still have a job during the day and take online courses like the School of Business Thinking .

Therefore, if you want to cross fields, don’t be afraid of your ability. As long as you have the method to learn and the perseverance to explore, you will definitely have the opportunity to achieve your goals.

But if I want to say that I have any advantages before learning, it is that I have accumulated a lot of interview experience, insight into pain points, or basic ability to compile information. In addition, this course is all in English, and the assignments are also in English. Fortunately, my reading speed in English is relatively fast, and I often rely on the verbatim script to quickly browse the course content. Although Google is aimed at courses that non-native speakers can understand, people who are not used to thinking in English may still find it a bit difficult.

Why pay to subscribe to a certification course?

The following is the syllabus plan for the seven lessons of the UX series. From basic concepts to complete ideas, interviews, design and verification tests, proposals, etc., the complete process will be taught to you.

I can insist on achieving it within two months. There is another practical consideration. The longer I study, the more I will pay (about NT$1,000 a month). According to the original content plan, it may take at least half a year. Finish. But if you just want to get a feel for the teaching content, you can actually audition or try it for 7 days for free (but I'm not sure about assignments or related references, whether free observers can see them).

In order to obtain certification, each classwork or exam needs to be more than 80% correct, and the grades given by the students are corrected by each other, so they will also observe the works of other students and provide feedback or suggestions.

My learning process and method

From the speed at which I can complete the content of nearly two courses in the first week, I have a hunch that I should be able to complete this series of courses ahead of schedule, so I plan the stages I expect to complete each week, and subdivide the assignments into which courses and weeks To hand over, pre-order on the calendar .

Usually, the most time-consuming tasks must be mockups, prototypes, etc. Many designs need to be considered and adjusted. However, although Google will show you their design process, reading it slowly once or twice can actually reduce the initial cost. mental disorder. But in practice, you will still find that there is still a long way to go from drawing to correctness, and even to aesthetics and ease of use.

At this time, it is very important to use other learning resources. After all, this course will not spend too much time teaching you to improve your design skills, and it is more inclined to think about "why design this way" and "how to get closer to the user experience" .

Fortunately, at the end of last year, I bought the course " Product Design Practice: Creating Great UI/UX with Figma " during Hahow's fundraising period. This course will more completely disassemble how each design step and component is done. Coincidentally, after I bought it last year, I have not been able to stick to the class on and off. I just can't understand why I should use Figma. It was not until I took the UX course that I started to learn Hahow quickly, and it just happened to match the teaching of both sides. Consolidate knowledge .

I highly recommend Simon's teaching, and you can directly ask him for help on Slack when designing levels.

Due to the heating up of the epidemic, it is not convenient for me to arrange another time to find interviewers. The homework cases are mainly based on the experience of friends and family members around me. I will verify some assumptions through interviews and show them the preliminary design I made. Of course, in the usability test, I don't think I have done it completely, but I can observe the experience of how Google's internal implementation is performed from the course video, which is really inspired a lot in a short period of time, and I am also interested in researching and analyzing methods from the article. .

I found that since I studied in depth, my vision of looking at Web/App has changed drastically . I began to pay attention to the details of design components, and then I thought about how I could reproduce XD. Optimization, how can we propose, or think about why enterprises are doing this at this stage?

UX Booklist and Self-Study Resources
In addition to the Hahow course, I also used notion to organize the books I read and the tools I used during this period. I have not finished it yet, and will continue to update it for reference to those in need.

Overall evaluation of the course

I have said a lot of good things in these two articles, and I feel that this one should be flat.

A must-see to prepare for a career change | My experience in the Google Career Certification Course
Homework for UX newbies in Google Certification course, good start!

Overall, I would recommend it for newcomers to this field, you can see how a large international company communicates the process of UX execution in a concise but logical way . But keep in mind that this is Google's interpretation of the workflow, and it may not be the full picture of the industry.

For example, they specially promote the use of their own developed Material Design applications in UI design, so that they can speed up the speed of the novice, but it may not be suitable for iOS?

Regarding assignments or exams, online exams such as GA will also be criticized. You can rely on archaeological questions and online answers to score points. Multiple-choice questions can always be drawn like a gourd. I think whether you can really learn the content or not depends on yourself. Reflections after class. Homework has also heard of cheating, or even stealing other people's homework.

It sounds stupid, but I actually received feedback from someone saying that he saw the file taken by others was exactly the same as me, and I didn't know which one was the deity, so I couldn't give points. I couldn't believe it at the time. Later, I also encountered this situation. Zero points for each other XD

In my next step, in addition to continuing to study hard, I will also organize my resume and portfolio, and consider studying data analysis.

The above is my experience to share, and if you have any questions, please leave a message to me!