The Institute of Product Leadership runs the most unique full-stack designer course, but we have no qualms in accepting that designers come from all walks of life. Many become UX designers by accident without going through a UX design course.
This is because design is nothing but creation. Engineers can create, so can artists, not to mention a researcher or a marketing professional. People with finance, psychology and anthropology backgrounds have also made a career in design without attending a UX UI design course.
You will be surprised to know that almost all degrees have provided the rudimentary skills to start off on a design career.
Director of Design, Walmart, Ramesh Kozhiserri, rightly points out: “We have folks who have moved into design from various disciplines. Most of us start as creators. You make something out of nothing and as you start excelling in the craft, start to learn the nitty gritties of design.”
Design is a multi-disciplinary field that has helped draw talent from different learning streams into this sphere. This is revealed in some studies..
For instance, in a study of 224 respondents, only 40% were pursuing post graduate degrees that had some relevance to design.
Source: Nielsen Norman Group
Source: DesignUp Deconstruct
However, dabbling with design is one thing, and adopting it as a full-blown career is quite another.
The first step towards a design career is when you introspect and decide whether you want to adopt designing as your chosen profession. Your decision-making process may involve:
Design Career is Like a Tree: Yes, that’s right. Just as a tree branches out in different ways, each and every design career is unique, even fascinating. It is not linear, and it has its twists and turns. What is really a win-win situation is that while climbing up this tree, it is okay for you to climb on to one branch, then jump on to another! You can also return to an earlier perch, where you were sitting pretty. In other words, you can experiment endlessly!
However, it will help to pick up specific skills that will help you specialize and climb up the career tree with style and finesse. Sooner or later, you will be confronted with product design vs UX design career choices, you will need to build a strong profile that fits into UX job descriptions. You will need to know how to become a UX designer of the future. So this is as good time as any to begin exploring which is the best UI UX certification course online.
Pick Your Own Branch of Design
Director of Design, Walmart, Ramesh Kozhiserri