This article focuses on recording the method I used to obtain UI/UX designer tickets during the epidemic. Design related content will also be published on Medium at the same time, which is convenient for those who are interested in the design field to inquire. I haven't written an article for a long time. After finishing the article, I found that I actually wrote the road of exploration for more than a year, and finally became an interface designer in the busy life of the epidemic. After many years of wandering in the overseas workplace, it seems that I have finally found a bit of characterization, and I will share other experiences later.

 The following text includes:
1. Educational background + work experience 2. Exploration in the self-study stage 3. Portfolio preparation strategies 4. Personal interviews 5. Is this job suitable for me?

Education background + work experience

When I first looked at the UI/UX field, it had been ten years since I graduated from the advertising department of the university, and five years after I graduated from the art design education of the graduate school. The design training in the past is already quite different from the current aesthetic sense, not to mention that there are many interface design and graphic design. Designing different considerations, the hole to be filled is not small at all.

What really made me decide to keep going is that during the self-study period, I found more and more connections with my previous educational background and work experience.

Based on what I have learned in the past, coupled with the half-tone design experience that I used to work in a typesetting company, also as a graphic design work, etc., it still allows me to quickly get started in UI design and master design methods. Using the marketing theory and planning, consumer research, educational methods and research methods that we have been exposed to, it is not difficult to understand the concept that UX needs to be in line with user dynamics through user research and analysis, and even to understand different user research methods. operating restrictions.

To say it again, the observation of different societies and ethnic groups in a few years abroad has given me a lot of inspiration to look for portfolio ideas and put forward UX strategies, and I am also very accepting of the design flexibility needs of different ethnic groups. In addition to the observation of life, the work done in the UK and Slovakia in the past five years or so has one thing in common, that is, almost all of them revolve around customers and help them solve various problems. The difference is only in the services and products provided by the companies. As a staff member who communicates with customers for a long time, I often conduct cross-departmental communication and develop a customer-oriented perspective of thinking about problems and solutions. This is my motivation for self-introduction and UI/UX learning when interviewing or submitting resumes. direction.

Exploring the self-study stage

When I searched for online courses, I was a little misguided. I bought UI/UX front-end web design from a good school. The biggest benefit of this course is that I have a preliminary understanding of the basic workflow, and I will review HTML and learn basic CSS. Due to the overall focus, 2/3 of the course focuses on the basics of developing website UI front-end, learning the principles of front-end application grid and RWD writing, but after about a month, I began to realize that this course is very important for design-focused career changers. Without immediate and direct help, I directly shifted my attention to online resources for observing job vacancies and learning prototype software. At the same time, I referred to the presentation of portfolios on Behance, with the main goal of producing portfolios.

Looking back at the learning process in the past six months to one year, it can be roughly divided into the following directions and methods:

A. Produces two works:

a. Research the structure and content of the portfolio of others

b. Come up with the context of conceptual works from life problems

c. Continuously improve the content from other people's works, experience sharing, and UX/UI new knowledge learned

B. Learn UI thinking and aesthetics:

a. Study design specifications

The Adobe Spectrum design specification is very detailed in UX writing. Material Design allows me to grasp the essentials of the size of each component. I didn’t study it too closely when I saw Apple’s Human Interface Guideline . . If time is limited, it is recommended to read Material Design first. There are also common interface comparisons for IOS and Android systems.

b. Learning from existing products

Take the UI of real-world digital products as a reference, classify and write down the design details you like and dislike. If you don't like it, you can practice designing it to your liking.

c. Master the operation skills of XD/Figma software

There are countless videos on Youtube. It is very good to use it to learn new special effects or design trends that can be applied. I also highly recommend the official teaching and challenging implementation series launched by XD and Figma.

C. Improve UX user research concepts and design methods:

a. Refer to more systematic learning resources online, such as Google UX , Usability.gov

b. Browse online resource sharing such as Medium or designer blog. There are many and complex Internet resources, it is recommended to take notes and put together various similar concepts or methods

c. Offline design book reading. Since there is too much information on the Internet, reading physical books (the list of books found on the Internet is also a long list) can calmly think about the words in the book, and often have unexpected results, connecting design concepts in series

D. Side project implementation:

Taking the real product to be launched as the design goal in the Side project, you can learn a lot of practical problems that your imaginary design product will not encounter. Things can also be fed back to the portfolio, and go back to optimize

E. Understand industry trends and work content:

a. There are many experienced seniors on Podcast (such as Design Food Stall, Design Nomad) and Medium (AAPD, Design Sishen Soup, UX Planet, etc.) who share their work and interview experience, which is considered a soft learning in the transition stage , It is highly recommended to listen to it when cooking and cutting vegetables, or to read a few articles while waiting for the car

b. Facebook groups (such as Adobe Xd Taiwan Taiwan designer exchange community, Taiwan UI/UX designers, UI/UX Taiwan, etc.) can often find interesting product information sharing, design issues or work career discussions. It made me know more about industry information, which is helpful for interview performance or after interacting with colleagues to open up topics

F. Looking for schoolmates:

Finding a partner who is also at a loss on the road to changing careers, wants to discuss portfolios together, or even write a record together to learn new knowledge, can definitely greatly improve the ability to prepare portfolios

Portfolio Preparation Strategies

If you want to get an entry-level job, many seniors on the Internet recommend 2-3 complete works. I only have two interface design works, one is the redesign of the previous company website, and the other is based on my life experience. APP concept design from the problem.

Since these can only show their own thinking and design ability, if there are works that have been launched, and in a certain way, they have the ability to communicate with the development or business strategy team, it will be easier to convince the client and the company to find a free case. This was originally my goal, but based on realistic pressure, after completing two works that I am satisfied with at this stage (personal standard is to receive praise from people I don’t know on Behance XD), I started to invest.

How to plan a portfolio is something I have been thinking about from beginning to end. I have referenced many portfolios on Behance. The most important thing is to first sort out a design context that can convince myself, presenting from defining user problems to proposing/selecting solutions Instead of using all kinds of charts to piece together the layout, you can discuss it with your seniors or those who are also preparing the work.

Do you want to make a portfolio website? Maybe a lot of people have had this problem, and so did I. In the end, I didn't do it, and only chose Behance to temporarily store the work. My expectation for the personal portfolio website is to be exquisite and beautiful, with a bit of my own personality, and it will take some time to design it well, which is equivalent to a piece of work, and naturally it cannot be born quickly. My strategy is to do the two complete works that I have thought of first, and at the same time look for more opportunities for implementation, and then think about setting up a website for the works.

On the interview battlefield

I mentioned Haitou earlier. For this job search, it is indeed Haitou. On the one hand, the reason for Haitou is that I have no restrictions on job transfer and entry. Because Slovakia is willing to give foreigners many opportunities, and I have not seen job vacancies that really make my eyes shine, long-distance vacancies in Europe are common. I need more practical experience, and I also want to test the types of companies that respond to my current portfolio.

In short, there are not many options at hand. Since I am no longer a student, my goal is simply to enter a company to gain practical experience , and apply for almost all the vacancies released in the local spring. Cover letters are mostly dispensable in Slovakia, and Not specifically prepared for a single vacancy.

After completing the last wave of updated portfolios in March, I applied for about 30 vacancies mainly in Slovakia, and got a total of four companies' first-stage interview/written exam opportunities:

The first is an antivirus software company headquartered in the Czech Republic. It can work remotely, with a free atmosphere, fine division of labor, and a large product team. It is the most satisfactory in terms of working conditions. Unfortunately, it was the first interview, and the HR question came suddenly. , many basic issues were not prepared for Zhou Yan in advance, and can only be said to be used as cannon fodder.

Experience → The first batch of delivery is best not to choose the company you want to go to so as not to regret

The second is a furniture e-commerce company in Slovakia. What attracts me is that they are recruiting the only interface designer in the whole company. The work flow is very challenging and has not yet been finalized, which means that I have a lot of room to explore, and I can also witness how to build a work flow from scratch. , but it is a matter of opinion whether this model is suitable for everyone.

The first level is simply to chat with the development team leader and the IT boss who is one of the founders of the company. The main purpose is to confirm whether I have "design is not art", "this interface design job requires cross-departmental communication", "language proficiency requirements" Higher" mental preparation, briefly talk about my portfolio, and then give me two words as the interface design topic of the second level, and make a return within a week. After the second round of the test, another interview was scheduled a week later. At the third level, the same people, but the topic was changed to the design I had done in the second level, and some work content and salary were confirmed. In the end, I made another appointment to talk, and the boss confirmed my salary and salary form, and then confirmed the start date and the work system and tools with the team leader. The road to interface design begins!

Experience → If you work hard on your resume, you will always meet a leader who appreciates your work.

The third is an e-commerce bookstore in Slovakia. I applied as a UX researcher, which I found was the most difficult, but also the most interesting, and had the highest starting salary. The first pass is a series of reader research questions, which are written in Slovak. Although I was allowed to answer in English, I really did answer in English, but in the end I didn’t pass the first pass. on language. I have to say that the connection between language and culture is still very deep, especially the users of the bookstore are readers, and readers have a certain degree of requirements on the accuracy of language use, and my language level is still unable to cope with it. Originally, the main expectation was not the job vacancy itself, but the ability to chat with the direct supervisor, but unfortunately there was still no chance. But the bookstore gave me a discount coupon of 10 Euros for the sake of answering the questions carefully. After I received it, I immediately went to buy the book in high spirits!

Experience → language ability is sometimes a barrier that UX cannot overcome, but who knows? Maybe give it a try and you can get unexpected results

The fourth is an insurance company headquartered in Austria. The first hurdle was an interview with the direct supervisor and the department supervisor. The two supervisors were very attentive to read all the information about me that they could find through LinkedIn. The conversation was quite relaxed and pleasant, but my German was only a few words. The German site is completely at a loss. Although the supervisors were very polite and repeatedly stressed that German is not a working language, they also informed me that the German website in Austria would be the main product of this job vacancy. I deeply feel that almost everyone has German in this neighborhood. I have no advantage in my country, and I directly stated in my thank you letter that I needed the company's help to work and reside in my application, but I did not receive good news in the end.

Experience → It is right to review your life before the interview. It is best to prepare at least one talent/leisure hobby introduction. It is best to confirm with the company contact again what products you need to be responsible for before you can prepare first.

Is this job right for me?

In fact, I am more interested in UX than UI, but the reality is that it is easier to demonstrate UI capabilities than UX. Many UX vacancies are combined with different aspects of the market, customers, and products. If you do not have relevant experience in a specific industry, there is not enough Educational qualifications can prove the ability of research and practice, plus the geographical and language and cultural differences, it is more difficult to enter UX and let the company or client believe that I have UX potential.

And UI can also be said to be a necessary visual presentation/packaging tool for presenting UX now. It is not that if you find a job that favors UI, you will never encounter UX again. In short, I just want to find a UI/UX job as soon as possible during the epidemic, so this The self-study journey is mainly based on UI and supplemented by UX. The UI-based interface design vacancy has become my first choice for this job transfer.

A job vacancy involves many aspects. First of all, in the resume stage, I will observe the industry of Party A's company or the customers served by Party B's company, and compare the expectations and requirements of the two for the job. In addition to the industry, work content and development space involved in UI/UX, the size of the company, the maturity of operation, whether the management has a system, the amount of benefits, office atmosphere, salary, vacations, flexibility of working from home, and whether overtime is required are all considered. inside. During the interview phase, I use these dimensions to judge my overall preference for a company. I found that after analyzing the pros and cons of the company and the position, there are far fewer gains and losses, and I can focus more on the process of optimizing my abilities or portfolio.

For newbies who have not yet felt the past during the probationary period, they are still trembling with work. It's probably too early to say whether this position is right for me, but I'm taking a small step. In the company, I was designing by myself, and I was very nervous in the first few days. At present, I am satisfied with the atmosphere of the office. I just belong to the development team. Don't need a few words? Wait for the next time to find out.