Class 1

I learn through visuals, and in the first class, the course producer introduced a graph showing our satisfaction relative to the knowledge we gain throughout the course. It looks something like this...

Initially- excited and happy, and then somewhere in the middle of the course when you're overwhelmed with information and lost, you will hit rock bottom, and hopefully by the end of the course, the satisfaction pops back up when something inside your brain clicks with UXD.

Finally- someone said what I was thinking. I recognized my elation with taking this course as an ignorant bliss. UX Design sounds exciting, creative and challenging mostly because I've only seen a slither of the up-side without knowing the true challenges. It's sort of like how some of us wanted to be astronauts in kindergarten because we liked the idea of flying but had no concept of how difficult astrophysics is.

Basically at Demo Day, I talked to several enthusiastic GA alumni, and appreciated how slickly designed their final projects were. I saw their app wireframes, and I thought- I want to do that too! Then, once I entered my credit card and signed the enrollment agreement, my stomach churned wondering what I would really get out of this, and whether it would be worth the hit to my wallet. This was especially the case when the wording in the enrollment agreement said that this was an "avocational" course, which meant it does not guarantee that you can find a job, and you have the skill set to change your career. This industry is very different from the rules based accounting / auditing career I have-- so it's a bit scary. Accountants have the CPA to show you have the right skill set (but does it really? or does it show you're a good test taker?). Now, I'm jumping into an industry that doesn't have a certification, and it's a bit more wishy washy than I'd like.

I started researching Quora, which is my go-to answer for any embarassing questions that I have these days. Surprisingly someone did ask the question "Is a GA UXD course worth it?" and the answer was... mixed. I don't think that's surprising because in any class I've taken, there have been different types of students- and I think some would benefit more than others depending on the time that they invested, and how they approached their assignments. I chose to focus on the answer that said the course was worth it, but only if you took the right steps outside of class to really promote your skill set, which includes getting comfortable writing and sharing your design aesthetic, building your brand, and putting your work out in the open, and networking outside of class, in meetups, and so forth. Challenge accepted.

In addition, in my research to understand UX, I came across thoughtful articles, and watched a documentary called "objectified" which showcased how to identify good design everywhere. I hope that at the end of this process, I end up going from the left to the right of the curve, being fully satisfied with the UX design work after fully understanding the pros/ cons.