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Ask The Experts is a series in which we ask design leaders from our community common questions from UX professionals or those seeking a career in UX. This month we're covering career specialization. 

What advice would you give a designer who is curious about whether or not they should choose a path of specialization or pursue more of a UX generalist path? 
  

My short answer is that a designer should ideally take both paths. You can do well in either one, but you will magnify your impact if you have experiences in both.

I see general and specialty design paths as two perpendicular, but related dimensions: the general path defines breadth, and the specialty path depth of a designer’s expertise. Over time, a seasoned designer should walk down both dimensions far enough to cover a bigger area of design, thus increasing skill versatility and overall value as a UX professional. When the market landscape renders specific domains or specialties obsolete, you always have experiences gathered along the general design path and be ready to go down another more relevant specialty path. If possible, try to align the projects you take on with your interests, whatever path you are on. Your interests can carry you further when you run into roadblocks.

On the general path, the design/research skills such as design patterns, research principles and methods represent the core abilities and toolbox for a designer. For example, creating a visual and interaction language in a design system can be very effective in establishing consistency and a baseline UI quality; establishing a user research enablement program to keep user feedback and expectations front and center in product teams can solve many problems, foster user centered culture in product teams, and gain good rapport with customers.

On the specialty path, acquiring specific domain knowledge to create compelling user experiences can be both challenging and rewarding. I cannot emphasize enough the importance for a designer to be comfortable with and fast in ramping up to a specialty (and sometimes very technical) domain. With a basic understanding of the domain, you may find it very enlightening to work with users to understand their specific problems and play a big part in creating solutions that improve their lives. In solving these problems, you also get to verify what you’ve gathered along the general path, and add new lessons learned to it. With a solid command of enough specialty domains in an enterprise, you obtain powerful insights that put you in a good position to devise effective user experience strategies across the entire organization or company."

Huifang Wang, Senior Manager of User Experience Design 
SAS

 There's a need for both generalist and specialized UXers. You'll wear more hats at smaller companies or agencies —  you may be responsible for everything, including user research, UX writing, UX strategy, interaction design, information architecture, and visual design. On larger teams, you'll find more specialized roles because they improve efficiency and quality of work.

All designers should understand every UX role, and being a generalist is an excellent way to gain exposure as long as you have mentors that can guide you. Being a generalist can also help you discover if there's a subspecialty that you enjoy more. But if you enjoy all aspects of UX, you may want to stay as a generalist most of your career.

If you're confident that you enjoy a specific UX role, then go for it! If you don't understand some other UX roles, it's vital to learn about those to know how to best work together. You can set up peer mentorship relationships (start with a 1:1 meeting), find articles/books/podcasts, or attend events (like those by the Triangle UXPA)."

Andrew Wirtanen, Senior Product Designer
Citrix

 I work in a space in which HW, SW and service UX are all in play across a range of product domains.  We look for design and research generalists, but recognize each team member has unique experiences and leanings.  Specialization occurs with domain assignments, which allow people to either develop depth or grow new expertise.  My best advice is to always ensure you are interested & challenged.  Don’t get complacent.  Beyond that, I caution towards specializing too narrowly for too long in a given focus.  You don’t want to pigeonhole your experiences or your perspective.  It is a positive to be known for specific strengths, but you’ll want to convey you can apply those in new directions."     

Aaron Stewart, Director Next UX & UX Research 
Lenovo

 I think this kind of "depth or breadth" question has particular relevance to the design field. I find so often that inspiration and creativity come from cross-fertilization between different areas of experience, expertise, and application that I'm always drawn to opportunities that give me more varied experience. Time and again I've seen that my approaches and solutions are informed by the intersection of diverse realms, thus I fear specialization would narrow my view too much, limiting my creative approach to problem-solving. There are certainly benefits to specialization, such as the ability to refine and improve, but that can also quickly become a comfortable rut. In the end, a question such as this is always a personal choice; my personal preference is for variety."     

 There is a popular adage to “do what you love, the money will follow.” While it is debated by some as to how good this advice is in choosing a career, it still applies to our scenario of offering advice to a UX generalist. While some love every aspect of our jobs, many often gravitate to a specialty, in our case maybe research, information architect, or UX writing. Why not specialize in the aspect of User Experience that brings the most joy or satisfaction, unless the opportunity to work a multidisciplinary role, taking on different UX roles is an enjoyable challenge?

Taking a pragmatic approach, on the other hand, choosing to specialize over remaining a generalist, could impact job and career opportunities. As in most fields, specializing will usually bring increased compensation, commensurate with the training and experience the specialist can provide. The choice will likely also have an impact on the type of organization and industry jobs will be found. While there are many opportunities for generalists, most organizations don’t have full-time needs for UX specialists, and those that do tend to be larger, or in specialized organizations, such as digital agencies or UX consultants.

In the end, as so often occurs in life, there is no “right answer.” The best choice factors in what the designer enjoys most about the work they do, as well as taking the work environment into consideration.”

David Minton, Managing Partner 
DESIGNHAMMER

Ask The Experts is a series in which we ask design leaders from our community common questions from UX professionals or those seeking a career in UX. This month we're covering distinctions between design roles. 

In your opinion, what qualities distinguish senior designers from junior or lower-ranking designers? What would you recommend to designers looking to move into a senior role?  

 The core ability of a senior designer is to solve complex problems with usable and elegant designs. Key qualities of a senior user experience designer include: 

1. In-depth understanding of the target users and key use cases
   We expect a senior designer to have excellent research skills. They should be able to partner with the right stakeholders, customers and users to get to this understanding and to verify design proposals. For technology companies, the users and use cases can be very technical. A senior designer has typically experiences with multiple complex products, which allows them to get up to speed to a new product quickly and contribute soon after they join the team.
2. Command of design patterns and best practices
   A senior designer needs to be able to match users’ needs to relevant design patterns to figure out the best ones for each use case. In an enterprise setting where users work with several products from the same company, it is important for a senior designer to be aware of the different use cases of these design patterns across products so that the design they create for one product is not only usable, compelling but also cohesive with other products in the same system.
3. Ability to design at different levels and recognize when to use which level
   In order to create a solid design solution, many design decisions need to be made at different levels. For example, if it is in the early stage of the product cycle, a concept design may be needed to get the team on the same page about a design direction or vision. During a specific feature design phase, detailed interaction behaviors, UI controls, wordings, accessibility features, etc. may need to be specified. A senior designer is expected to know how to work at different levels of designs and guide the team towards a solution, figuring out the right amount of detail at the right time.
4. Capability to influence others
   Without the ability to inspire and call team members into action, a great design may only remain on paper. In order to get great designs into products, and into the hands of the users, a senior designer needs to be seen by the product team as a trusted advisor. They must be able to collaborate and motivate team members to implement the envisioned design.
5. A big tool box, with a strategic mind
   A senior designer possesses key skills spanning across many areas, such as user research, illustrating user journeys, designing user flows and screen layouts, creating interactive prototypes, and communicating designs in a manner to inform, motivate and inspire the team. They typically have a large toolbox of skills that they can draw on to get a job done. In addition, a senior designer has the ability to transfer knowledge from one team to another. They can build on previous successes to influence at a higher level across the organization so that good design processes, methods and thinking are adopted by teams beyond the immediate ones they work with. Finally, we expect a senior designer to be able to mentor junior designers to help grow a team with key skills in research, design and collaboration.

For someone looking to move into a senior role, we recommend developing the core skills of design and user research. Reflect and accumulate working knowledge with each project. Find opportunities to hone your soft skills—communication, collaboration and even negotiation. See if you can tie your specific work to larger missions at the division, organization or company level. Connect and work with people with different job titles and personalities. Seek opportunities to be a buddy or mentor for someone who is just starting their career in design. You do not have to be successful in all the challenges you take on, but you will go far if you treat each as an opportunity to learn and add to your toolbox, network and circle of influence."

Huifang Wang, Senior Manager of User Experience Design 
SAS

 The best designers are the best collaborators. Senior designers have developed skills that are hard to teach - they know how to articulate decisions, listen, collaborate, and iterate based on feedback. Above all, they know that they are not the most important person in the room. The best design is not the most aesthetically pleasing one; instead, it's a design that meets both business and user needs. There is no way to come up with the perfect design without working closely with a cross-discipline team.

Any designer looking to move into a senior role should understand that promotions can take time. Be patient. The most important thing for you to focus on is your career growth. What are you interested in learning? What experience or skills could help you be a better designer? Once you identify your focus areas, you can seek mentors to help guide your career path. Mentors could be in your local community (like the Triangle UXPA) or at your workplace. For more on mentorship, check out my 2017 article in User Experience Magazine."

Andrew Wirtanen, Senior Product Designer
Citrix

 Band level or formal rank certainly involves comfort and established success of wielding design skill.  In a more senior rank, one needs to independently and more effectively know how to design.  But, a senior team member also understands how to interface with other functions, manage stakeholders, and confidently operate within the larger context of the work.   I’d recommend early career designers study how to balance affecting the details (design output) while also affecting the bigger picture (project outcome)."     

Aaron Stewart, Director Next UX & UX Research 
Lenovo

 To me, what makes someone a senior designer is the ability to handle uncertainty. Even if a designer is very skilled, if they need specific instructions or well-defined problems in order to make progress, it's hard to see them in a senior role because of the additional management or direction they require. For designers looking to move into a senior role, try to take a more active role during the initial phases of a project. Learning how to break a problem into manageable chunks and how to do meaningful work outside of standard design deliverables is key to being able to take on more responsibility."

Erik Johnson, Co-Founder 
Purpose UX

 To me, the difference is between working with an artist versus a communicator. While aesthetics are an important aspect of graphic design, the ability to communicate through visuals is critical for a successful designer. Understanding User Experience principles and practices is essential to successful communication and unfortunately lacking in many student and junior designers I encounter. At the most basic level we provide services to solve business problems. Pretty pictures alone don’t help the bottom line, effective communication does.”

David Minton, Managing Partner 
DESIGNHAMMER

 I would say that in my opinion, the qualities that distinguish senior designers from junior or lower-ranking designers is that a senior designer is expected to have years of experience and to have a larger toolkit of foundational understanding that should come standard with solutioning UX problems.  Also a senior designer should be able to see a problem and numerous solutions faster and clearer than a designer with not so much experience.  Senior designers should be adept in numerous digital and analog tools  and be more well-rounded across multiple UX disciplines such as Interaction Design, UI / Graphic arts design, Front-End knowledge, Information Architecture and have a good understanding of color theory.  A senior designer will likely be more empathetic to the user and have a greater understanding of personas and know to keep things in mind such as device usage, world usage, use-cases in workflows and accessibility concerns." 

Anonymous Design Leader 

Ask The Experts is a series in which we ask design leaders from our community common questions from UX professionals or those seeking a career in UX. This month we're covering Design Certifications. 

In your opinion, what is the value of a UX Design certification? Do you feel this is valuable for design professionals or candidates to have? 

If you feel that design certifications are important, are there any specific programs that you recommend? 

 We see relevant experiences, portfolio, skills, and education as more important than design certification in a job candidate. Because design is a broad space, you can consider a specialized certification to broaden and complement your strengths. For example, if your only experience/education is on visual design, educating yourself through a certification process on user research, human factors, or design thinking can better prepare you for a career in user experience design. We recommend that you select design certifications that allow you to work on a project that can be added to your portfolio. In other words, design certifications do not by themselves secure jobs. Demonstrated experiences, an enhanced portfolio, broadened knowledge and skills, some of which may be gained from design certifications, are more valuable to an employer.

Here are some examples of design certifications:

• Design thinking certification from IDEO or Stanford
• UX Certification with NN group
• Accessibility design certification IAAP
• Ergonomics: https://www.bcpe.org/
• Professional certification from Canada https://gdc.design/certification

Huifang Wang, Senior Manager of User Experience Design 
SAS

 In your opinion, what is the value of a UX Design certification? Do you feel this is valuable for design professionals or candidates to have?

UX certifications vary greatly. Some focus on a specific topic area (e.g., IAAP's accessibility certifications), and some are short boot camps that intend to teach you the basics of UX in a week. In general, certification programs can help you achieve your career goals. For example, a UX boot camp could be a first step in establishing your base knowledge in the field and figuring out your interests. 

Keep in mind there is no accepted industry-wide UX certification, and it's simply impossible to claim expertise because you have a Nielsen Norman Group or Human Factors International certification. If you're thinking about a certification program, I think you should ask yourself, "will this help my career?" and not, "will this look good on my resume?". To be a great UX professional, you must make learning part of your career. Certification is not a destination, but it can be a milestone for your journey.

If you feel that design certifications are important, are there any specific programs that you recommend?

As a graduate of Bentley University's Masters in Human Factors in Information Design program, I would recommend their UX Boot Camp or Certificate Program because of high-quality instructors. You can apply credits earned from the certification to the Master's program."

Andrew Wirtanen, Senior Product Designer
Citrix

 A certification may help prove dedication and growing mastery to oneself.   That confidence lift carries intrinsic personal value.  I feel the outward value to others is dependent on context.   In an organization with relatively mature UX practice, awareness of the certification may create a moment of creditability among stakeholders or interviewers.  But the substance of what follows will govern what others think of your capabilities.   If the context for you is a rather constant change in stakeholders (e.g. in consulting or serial contract work), the credential may help land some consideration.  However, I’ve not seen UX hiring or stakeholder confidence pivot on UX Design certification.   I’d recommend pursuing any cert based on how it makes you feel about your own skills and passions."     

Aaron Stewart, Director Next UX & UX Research 
Lenovo

 Certifications are useful when you don't have a body of work, portfolio, or recommendations to demonstrate your capability. I definitely look for certifications or degree programs in hiring for junior positions. That said, certifications only tell me that you have learned a skill, not how well you have mastered the ability to apply that skill. Therefore, a certification may get you an interview, but landing the job will depend upon how well my team and I think you will be able to execute those skills in a live project, based on your portfolio and interviews. The certification is a starting point, but we also look for the interpersonal skills required to collaborate with a team and interact with stakeholders." 

Randy Early, Experience Manager 
Atlantic BT

 For me and many others, the ability to explain your process to have a portfolio showcasing quality work is essential. For people already in the field, I think time is better spent working on actual project work than pursuing additional certifications (unless it's for a specific skill you need to acquire that you can't do "on the job"). Certificates can have value for candidates who lack a portfolio and don't have good opportunities to take on actual project work, but even then, I would encourage people to be creative about finding real projects before spending time and money in a certificate course. I don't know about specific programs as me and most designers I know did not go through that type of program."

Erik Johnson, Co-Founder Purpose UX 
Purpose UX

On January 27, 2017, our special guest mentor on the mentorship Slack channel was Amanda Stockwell, owner of Stockwell Strategy and longtime researcher and strategist. Amanda answered question pertaining to UX research. The following is a summary of that Slack conversation.

Research- Formative vs. Summative User Testing

by Amanda Stockwell:

Topics discussed:

• What’s the difference between Formative and Summative User Testing?
  
• Recruiting the right users
  
• Formulating questions well, especially when you need to provide specific pieces of domain knowledge
  
• Preventing bias and moderating tips
  

The following captures the key questions and takeaways from the session.

Q: Can you start by explaining the difference between Formative and Summative User Testing?

A: Formative research is done at the onset of a project and use to explore existing problems, general needs, and generally gather insights to help guide the way

Summative testing is done after a solution is complete (or at least part is complete) and you're looking to verify how successful you were at hitting the goals you set

Sometimes the methods are the same, but the goal of the research is different.

Q:  I have heard arguments for not needing to recruit from a target audience so long as you properly set up the initial scenario. How would you respond to that argument?

A: I whole heartedly believe that you get better research results when you use real representative users. Theoretically, if you're working on something online, and someone is familiar with the internet, they should be able to figure most things out and you'll be able to identify the absolute worst, most glaring issues.

However, the most glaring set of issues to the general public may not be a big deal to your user set, and you might completely miss things that are big issues to your users.  It’s especially important to recruit your specific target users when working on the figuring out an overall workflow, content, labeling, organization, and navigation.

Q: Can you talk about how to best write usability test tasks?

A: Usability testing is all about exploring how easy or not something is to use and specifically designed to have participants interact with something (could be a website, mobile app, paper prototype, etc.) and perform tasks. The researcher observes users’ interactions and may give the participants specific tasks to complete.

The first tip to make sure you set up a scenario that makes sense to the real users and is written from their perspective. Give the participant some context so they can connect your website/application/whatever to their real goals and get in the mindset of truly performing the task.

You then need to create tasks that would be realistic for your test participants’ real-life goals. For instance, if you’re testing a sporting-goods website with budget-conscious parents, a reasonable task might be something like, “Find your child a pair of soccer cleats for under $35.”

This task is specific, but it’s not biased and won’t lead the participants in any way. Be careful to avoid including terms that a participant could look for on the page or moving users down a path you’d prefer them to take.

Q: Do you have any suggestions for writing usability test questions for when you need to provide the user some contextual information (such as credit card number or account id) without leading them?

A: If there is general domain knowledge that you need to assess in your participants, you can start with a short set of interview questions designed to glean what they already know, then have a few versions of tasks written and tailor the way you ask the questions to the level of knowledge they already have.

If there is specific information they need along the way, you can just give them the general tasks and tell them to let you know when they need specific data.

For instance, I recently did a study on the tax forms people need to fill out to be able to serve liquor. I told them to just go about as they thought they would, and any time they thought they needed a piece of information (like a tax code or account information) to let me know, and I would provide it at the time. I had index cards printed out with that information so I could hand it to them one at a time, but if they didn’t know to ask for it, I didn’t provide it.

Q: What is the best way to prevent bias of the moderator/UX Designer/Researcher?

A: The first thing is to be aware that everyone is naturally inclined to lead people one way or another and you need to practice writing the questions in a neutral way. It's little, subtle differences that make a big difference. For instance - "Tell me about x" is WAY more open than something like, "How did you like..."

Regardless of how well-written your script, it can be tempting to stray from the plan or blurt things out. To help with this, practice being quiet as much as possible, avoiding temptation to blurt things out, and find ways to keep your hands busy, such as holding the script, taking notes (even pretend ones!) or even gripping your hands behind your back.

It’s also helpful to get feedback from colleagues and perform a pilot session, especially with usability tests. Another person can help you identify wording issues or places that might be confusing. Although not always possible, it can also help to record your research sessions and watch yourself later.

Really, moderating is a difficult skill but the best way to get better is to practice, practice, practice!

In May, we celebrated Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) at SAS with A11yRTP. (A11yRTP is the local accessibility meetup and if you’re not currently a member, we encourage you to join!) We kicked off the event with opening remarks, two great speakers, and a hand-ons lab for attendees to try simulations of impairments and assistive technology (AT). This recap includes a comprehensive list of accessibility resources.

Why is accessibility important?

The Triangle UXPA 2017-18 board election results are in! Meet the executive council officers: 

Learn about the executive council offices.

Become a member of Triangle UXPA.

In order to better serve our growing number of mentees, we recently started an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on our Mentorship Slack channel. Mentees are able to submit topics they are interested in learning more about, and then a mentor commits to an hour on Fridays. These mentors monitor the channel and answer any questions thrown at them about the particular topic of interest. The wealth of knowledge that has been shared is great and the participants have expressed it is a valuable series. Well we thought, "why keep all this great information to the confines of the Slack-verse?" So, periodically, we will create a post highlighting the nuggets of wisdom. I mean, cause really it's stuff every UX professional can benefit from.

On February 3, 2017, we held an AMA about deliverables. Our mentor on-board was Audrey Bryson, UX Designer for Extron Electronics. Below you will find her write up based on our Slack conversation. Enjoy!

AMA content

by Audrey Bryson:

Sketches:

Sketches are the most appropriate for getting ideas out of your brain and onto paper. They are perfect for brainstorming by yourself or within a group.  The quality of sketches (straightness of lines, colors, alignment, etc) does not matter. The only thing that matters is if you are able to effectively communicate your ideas.

Sketches are usually not shown to stakeholders unless you are showing proof that you thought of a lot of ideas before you settled on a higher quality wireframe to show them. Sketches are also a great way to show thought process in a portfolio.

Medium: Paper, pencil, pen, white board, dry erase markers, etch a sketch, etc.

Source: https://www.kooslooijesteijn.net/

Wireframes:

Wireframes are usually a more polished version of a sketch. They indicate the general structure of  website/application, and the positioning of all of the elements. If you're having trouble describing what a wireframe is, and what its purpose is to a stakeholder, you can tell them it's similar to a template, and provides a preview of a possible final product.

Wireframes can be sketched by hand or created using a digital tool such as Balsamiq, Axure, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, etc. It is best to keep color, images, or other high fidelity elements out of wireframes. They are a good way to think abstractly about the needs of a web product or application.  I recommend if you show a wireframe to a client, make sure your lines are straight,  but also make sure it doesn't look too complete, the point of a wireframe is to show ideas in a low fidelity manner.

Medium: sketched by hand or created using a digital tool such as Balsamiq, Axure, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, etc.

Source: https://support.balsamiq.com/tutorials/responsivedesign/

Workflow:

Workflow for the most part is synonymous with a user task flow. Creating a separate workflow from the visual design is essential to keeping the focus on the tasks rather than the product. Workflows are driven by user goals, and the interaction designer needs to think about each step in the process to achieve that goal. It’s helpful good to include alternative paths, or what a failed path looks like, as well as a successful path.

Workflows can be written in a paragraph form, in a numbered list, or in a flow chart. Your audience will determine what is most appropriate. With a numbered or written format you can easily get locked in to a linear flow, which is not always appropriate. Decision making and branching is a little easier to convey with a flow chart.

Medium: Paragraphs, numbered lists can be created in any text editor. Flow charts commonly created in Adobe illustrator, Balsamiq, Axure, Sketch

Source: http://deanbirkett.name/work/watch.html

Wireflow:

Wireflows combine wireframes and taskflows to create a more contextual way of showing user interaction throughout an application.  This deliverable is generally easier for stakeholders to understand. Wireflows can be low or high fidelity. Unless you have an existing visual design, low fidelity is recommended to save time.

Source: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/wireflows/

Prototypes Lo-Fidelity:

Prototypes are good for testing, handing off to developers, or describing micro-interactions and showing how  they will work in your design.

If time, resources and budgetary concerns are short, paper prototyping is the way to go. Essentially this is just sketching or printing out physical versions of your design and presenting it to your audience. To show interaction, have the user "click" or "tap" on an area of the prototype and then flip the page to show an interaction such as a drop-down menu or a new screen.

Medium: paper, pencils, stencils, printed out wireflows.

Source: http://usabilitygeek.com/paper-prototyping-as-a-usability-testing-technique/

Prototypes – High Fidelity:

High Fidelity prototypes are what you want to test with users, and present to stakeholders before you ship a final product. Ideally testing a fully operational prototype would happen before the end of the design cycle to allow the development team to reflect on the results and make changes before actually sending products into the real world. But as user professionals know this is not always the case.

High Fidelity is also good because it can tell you about user's general attitudes about a product. Color, interactions, animations, affect the satisfaction and usability of a product too, so if you can test those elements do it. You don't even need to include a question in your usability script about their thoughts about the visual design, your participants will just offer it up!

Finally going for high fidelity and getting as close to the real thing is important because you are likely to uncover other issues that were originally outside the scope of your design. You can get away with murder in sketches and designs, but when it comes to implementation that is a whole other animal.  Maybe you're linking to a youtube video, but the ads that appear are overly distracting to your users. Maybe you're designing a mobile site, and it isn't until you test it on a phone outside that you realize the contrast isn't high enough. Small things like that can make or break a product.

Medium: UX designers can create high fidelity and interactive designs in axure, invision, indesign, or even in html/css/javascript/php (any coding language). It's up to you to determine what is best for your team.

Source: https://helpx.adobe.com/experience-design/how-to/wireframe-low-high-prototype.html

The Executive Council of  the Triangle User Experience Professionals Association (Triangle UXPA) and the leaders of the Ladies That UX-Durham (LTUX DUR) professional organization recently asked us to conduct a survey of local UX professionals. The goal of the survey was to determine salary levels and demographics of UX professionals in the Triangle area.

We received 146 responses from the launch of the survey on 9/2/16 until it closed on 10/19/16. This is a response rate of approximately 7.8%, based on the number of members in both Triangle UXPA and LTUX DUR. The survey was open, though not directed to, the public. Therefore, there may be  responses by UX professionals who are not in either organization.

Check the survey – Triangle UX Salary Survey.pdf

Happy 10th anniversary, Triangle UXPA.

We've come a long way since our inception in 2006 as TriUPA. Take a look at our history to see how we've grown!

TriUXPA_History.pdf

Mentoring is very similar to coaching. Like any sports coach worth his whistle and stopwatch, the goal of a mentor is to pass on knowledge and wisdom that they have gleaned from personal and professional experiences. Equipped with this foundation, the next generation can build on it to further their craft.

Sometimes, though the hardest thing is getting started with mentoring. It can all start, however, with a simple conversation.

Triangle UXPA’s First Meet and Greet for Mentorship Program

We recently had a meet and greet event for the Triangle UXPA’s mentorship program. Using the Beverage User Interface (BUI) platform, we kept it casual and informal. The idea was to help facilitate that initial encounter between mentor and mentee. We had a great turnout with 34 people attending.

One of our mentors had this to say, “The meet and greet was a much more organic and comfortable way to connect mentors and mentees. As a mentor, I was able to get a better sense of what the mentees want and need, and I think a lot of the mentees felt that this informal setting was an easier way to break the ice and find a mentor with whom they have good chemistry,” Courtney Hall, Sr. UX Designer at Extron Electronics.

What Can You Expect from the Program?

You can expect exactly what you are willing to put into it.

We started the night off with a short presentation on what people should expect to give and get from the program. Some highlights:

#1 Concern of Mentors: “Do I have anything to offer?”

The short answer is “Yes.”

Some of the hesitation and apprehension I hear a lot from prospective mentors is that they don’t know enough to mentor. That is a major misconception. If you currently work or have worked in the UX field in a professional capacity—at any level—you have something to offer.

"At first, I thought that I didn’t have anything to offer and that my level of knowledge was nothing special.  After talking with people, I realized that I may not have all the answers, but I do have something to offer and can help people with what I do know," said Don Church, UX Designer at Extron Electronics.

Everyone can agree that being mentored is a good thing, but there is considerable convincing needed sometimes to get folks involved as a mentor. So, why mentor?

• Enriching lives and careers
  
• Passing on knowledge to help the next generation
• You learn as you teach. Sometimes holes can be revealed in your own professional development as you teach your craft to others.
• The teacher can also become the student. As a seasoned professional, you will have the expertise and experience that can only happen from actually just doing it—whatever it is. But those being mentored can sometimes offer young eyes, fresh ideas and new technologies to your toolbox.

Some helpful hints to be a successful mentor:

• Set real expectations for your time commitment and the type of help you are willing to offer upfront.
• Give honest but helpful feedback. Make sure to treat your mentees as colleagues not underlings.
• Help guide them in the journey toward their goals by paying attention to deficiencies in their basic skill set needed to succeed as a UX professional.
• Be knowledgeable, but vulnerable. If there is something you don’t know—admit it and then be resourceful.

#1 Question from Mentees: “How do I get started?”

Answer: Reach out to a mentor.

Mentees, the best advice to you is to start making connections.  The Meet and Greet was just one way to network. In addition to our list of available mentors, the Triangle UXPA also holds events all time and these are great ways to meet potential mentors. Remember though, it’s up to you to make the initial contact.

When you do reach out here are some suggestions to make it go smoother:

• Do your research and know what you want out of the relationship. “What is UX?” is not a good question to lead with.
• Set realistic goals—what is the end game? Do you want to land your dream job? Are you looking to learn more before making a transition?
• Make sure you find the right fit—a mentor who can commit the amount of time you need, and who has the skills you are interested in.
• Be willing to put in the time and effort to make this successful for you.
• Be willing to receive honest and helpful feedback.

A Couple Success Stories with the Program So Far – This could be you!

Joe and Andrew

“Mentorship relationships often depend on the level of motivation – especially of the mentee,” said Andrew Wirtanen, Lead Product Designer at Citrix. “Joe immersed himself in the UX literature I gave him to read. That was the primary reason he was able to kick start his UX career.”

In Joe’s case, his mentors simply guided his path and he took the initiative to barrel ahead. Joe is now able to pass on his knowledge and experience as a mentor himself.

Crystal and Lucas

Crystal Ibke is currently being mentored by Lucas Brauer, Interaction Designer. “It's been great working with Crystal, and I cannot say enough about how smart and competent she already is as a UX designer,” Lucas said.

“We are working on the redesign of a website for a Duke and UNC student org called The Bridge. We have done persona development, stakeholder and user interviews, usability testing on an older version of the site (which is no longer live), and more,” he said.

The design team for this project includes Crystal, and two developers that recently graduated from the Iron Yard code academy in Durham.

So How Can We Make the Mentorship Experience Even Better?

It wouldn’t be a group of UX folks if we weren’t always looking for ways to improve our experience. Here is a list of some suggestions from attendees:

• A forum to practice presenting and discussing deliverables
• A way to spread the wealth of knowledge and expertise in our mentor pool—not just limit the experience to a one-on-one relationship
• Slack channel for mentees and mentors
• More group project opportunities
• Mentor forum or message board

What are your thoughts? Leave us a comment.