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Just wondering, what really makes a good UX engineer? I'm studying HCI at a university other than stanford, and the course is total BS... I knew the principles

by meric 16y ago

Just wondering, what really makes a good UX engineer? I'm studying HCI at a university other than stanford, and the course is total BS... I knew the principles we were supposed to learn were important, but having whole lectures spent on comparing command languages vs natural languages (i.e stuff like command languages are fast and good for experts and natural languages are good for novices... how to make prototypes out of postit notes... a low-fidelity prototype is a cheap prototype whilst a high fidelity prototype is expensive... Stuff I could tell you myself) makes it hard to spend my time focusing on the course. :( The only useful thing I've learnt is that when you're doing a questionnaire with lickert scales, don't use mean because the distances between each point on the scale isn't equal...

wdewind 16y ago
It kind of depends on the scale you want to operate at. If you are Google level, UX tends to be VERY mathematically (statistically) driven. In which case I would focus on a degree in math. Towards the lower end (read: almost everywhere else) of that scale, you're best bet is actually to look at a design degree, and learn the tech on your own. Your best bet is experience in the field. Very few schools are teaching comp sci programs that are worth anything (Stanford, CMU a few others), and I have seen almost nothing of value in academia in terms of product/UX development (which is why I say focus on Math or pure Design). The web stuff you're really going to have to teach yourself, I think for at least another 3-4 years, maybe longer. The author is somewhat right about the commoditization of the backend, but it's not to India, it's to frameworks like RoR. Larger companies that require serious, responsive scaling, sharding and cacheing are not, and will not be, outsourcing to these frameworks. But it's definitely not to India (data entry, sure).
- timcederman 16y ago
  Google is a combination of qualitative user research for the initial design backed by quantitative analysis upon release.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
elbrodeur 16y ago
I would say it's the same thing that makes anyone good at anything: The ability to take the body of knowledge associated with the field and not only synthesize it, but to riff on it and make new -- or at least -- compelling things. That might be too broad. Specific to UX, I would say that many companies only consider what a user experiences and the stories they accumulate when their brand is mature -- usually much too late to pivot. A good UX designer in an early stage venture is usually also an interface designer, to some degree, and taps into the following: 1) Deep understanding of the market and demographic 2) A solid grasp on what people expect 3) A great appreciation for the things that compel people to action UX designers and engineers make things that cause people to accomplish goals in a way that is unobtrusive (except when it needs to be) unoffensive (except when it needs to be) and not confusing (ever). That's my take, at least.

by meric 16y ago

wdewind 16y ago

It kind of depends on the scale you want to operate at. If you are Google level, UX tends to be VERY mathematically (statistically) driven. In which case I would focus on a degree in math. Towards the lower end (read: almost everywhere else) of that scale, you're best bet is actually to look at a design degree, and learn the tech on your own. Your best bet is experience in the field. Very few schools are teaching comp sci programs that are worth anything (Stanford, CMU a few others), and I have seen almost nothing of value in academia in terms of product/UX development (which is why I say focus on Math or pure Design). The web stuff you're really going to have to teach yourself, I think for at least another 3-4 years, maybe longer. The author is somewhat right about the commoditization of the backend, but it's not to India, it's to frameworks like RoR. Larger companies that require serious, responsive scaling, sharding and cacheing are not, and will not be, outsourcing to these frameworks. But it's definitely not to India (data entry, sure).

timcederman 16y ago
Google is a combination of qualitative user research for the initial design backed by quantitative analysis upon release.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]

elbrodeur 16y ago

I would say it's the same thing that makes anyone good at anything: The ability to take the body of knowledge associated with the field and not only synthesize it, but to riff on it and make new -- or at least -- compelling things. That might be too broad. Specific to UX, I would say that many companies only consider what a user experiences and the stories they accumulate when their brand is mature -- usually much too late to pivot. A good UX designer in an early stage venture is usually also an interface designer, to some degree, and taps into the following: 1) Deep understanding of the market and demographic 2) A solid grasp on what people expect 3) A great appreciation for the things that compel people to action UX designers and engineers make things that cause people to accomplish goals in a way that is unobtrusive (except when it needs to be) unoffensive (except when it needs to be) and not confusing (ever). That's my take, at least.