If anyone replies/comments, I'm looking for thoughts on the following:
- First of all, it seems that there are relatively few jobs in the Chicago area- but I hope that I am wrong. In my job search, I've found that graduate school experience does not seem to be enough to crack the industry. Are there just not enough jobs to get something full time without real world experience?
- What are the job titles that Interaction Designers might look for? I have seen the following: UI Designer, Usability Specialist, User Researcher, Information Architechts and some other similar variations.
- Are there any DePaul employees who are dedicated to helping students get real world experience (i.e. pro bono work, side jobs for non-profits, etc)? It would make sense if the university employed just one person who brought together students on pro bono projects (i.e. one HCI student, one software engineer, one database programmer, etc). In this way, students who are willing to give up their time could get real world experience.
- Is it possible in HCI 454 to design (or redesign) some facet of course online, MyCTI, Campus Connection, or some other site? This would be a way for everyone to put something on their resume?
Good luck to everyone who is looking for a job! From my limited experience, you're gonna need it! ...and for those who are already employed in a job in this field, you are very lucky! Please share the secrets of your success.
13 comments:
Since my original blog posting, I found this association, which I was not previously aware of..
http://www.ixda.org/en/
Sorry if this makes you feel worse...
I work in search engine marketing, and so I deal with the web designers, technologists, and marketers at large companies. In two years of such work, I've found exactly one person in an HCI position. Her title is Usability Engineer, but here's the catch - she has no HCI experience, and even if she did, they have no idea how to use her. She doesn't even get invited to meetings about an impending site re-design!!
What's my point? At least in the web sphere, old-school corporate America doesn't have HCI on its radar. Investing in any technology or position that doesn't have an easily quantifiable ROI is a tough sell for that crowd. You're better off targeting younger, smaller, more risk-tolerant companies than Fortune 500, brand-protective firms.
-Chris Keating
Well I can't say for sure, but I'm hoping that having a good portfolio of work done as a student will go a long way with employers. We'll be able to show process, which I think is really helpful and says a lot in our field.
Joining ixda's discussion list and sigia-l's makes sense too - both in terms of professional development and job postings!
and I love this site: indeed.com. I have job searches coming into my email daily, I think the terms I've used are UI Designer, User Experience, etc. I've tried a few different ones and see at least a couple relevant local jobs each day.
The last thing you might want to try (although this would involve quitting your current job) is freelancing - buzz company, smart department, and creative circle are three agencies in chicago that place freelancers part time in different ad agencies for contract work. I did it last summer as a web/print production type and it was neat working at a bunch of different places and getting a feel for different office cultures.
hey john and chris,
i'm agreeing with kelly, i don't think it's too bad for us out there. of course, you might need a couple of good projects during your studies in order to compete with the mostly required 2-5 years of job experience... but still, fresh innovative ideas are always an advantage compared to increasing indifference that sometimes automatically appears if people work in the same job for years and years... (no offense here, but i hope you understand what i try to say).
cti for example also has it's own job newsletter network (in case you not already joined it) and there are a quite a couple of jobs for interaction designers... plus lots of jobs that combine id, ue, ucd and others.
here is a link where you can sign up for the hci info newsletter:
http://lyris.cs.depaul.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=hci-info&text_mode=&lang=english%20class=
but especially for our field i would recommend personal networking!!!... going to hci events, talks, workshops or going to career forums like the cti career forum this friday (cti, 1st floor lab 5-7pm), what is a perfect opportunity to network. talk to hci alumnis that are already working in the field, other hci professors that are going to check your resumes if you want to and of course a couple of recruiters from local companies... so you definately want to bring your resume and business cards ;)
you can get more information and register here:
http://www.cti.depaul.edu/news/news.asp?id=3202§ion=news
hope to see you guys there!
:) nadine
Thanks to all of you for the comments. Since this posting, I've procured some work as a part time "Usability Consultant" for the re-design of an existing e-commerce site. I'm hoping to make this work the focus of my course long project- and I'd like to add some classmates to the project at some point (I already have a full time job plus school, so I can use all the help I can get!).
So, here's the skinny- I'm going to be working with a web design firm, but my "employer" is the client (a furniture store). I will be an advocate for this store's online customer throughout the design and testing phases. Once they have a beta version, we'll do some real usability testing (perhaps with Camtasia, interviews, and task analysis).
The bad news is that I am doing this work for free; but the good news is that this will be real world experience. Is anybody interested in helping me? Again, there is no money involved- just experience. I'll probably do most of my work on weeknights and weekends...
john, your project sounds cool and though i would love to help you with the testings... i'm afraid i'm already stuffed with work deadlines and school, but whenever you wanna discuss something or need feedback on layouts, wireframes, etc. let me know... i would be happy to help.
I agree that anytime the University can lend a hand to students looking for jobs, it can be of great help! It can be a tough job market, especially for a position that appears to be so new in Human Computer Interaction. The only bit of advice that I can throw at you is that you might want to try looking for a Business Analyst position first. It may be a good way for you to gain the experience in the business world and work toward a HCI type of job. I currently work as a Business Analyst and I get to write software specifications and work with outside clients to design interfaces but it is just not as structured as the type of ideal jobs that Rachel has experienced. With a Business Analyst type job, you may just get wrapped into doing more testing than you would like.
This probably doesn't help you too much but just in case you weren't looking at these jobs (which tend to be more prevalent) they could be a good option!
Here we are in week 3 of blogging and I feel that I might need to change gears on the topic. Everyone has provided so much information and advice on job hunting and I'm overwhelmed. It seems that at the end of the day, good things like interviews and job offers fall into our lap (just as often as we promote ourselves to get them). I'm sure there will be those who disagree, but I feel this way about alot of things in life. Maybe after I build up more experience as an HCI professional, I'll be able to either A)choose from a list of jobs or B) start my own business.
It can be frustrating when your options are limited; and I'm changing careers at age 30- so that has been the case (I've had some offers of internships, and others that are full time but big pay cuts).
Now, to change gears in this discussion- what can you do once your IN a job to gain the right kind of experiences and move up???
Again, my limited experience has shown me that office politics and "being in the right place at the right time" place just as big of a role in promotions as being qualified. We can't always control "being in the right place at the right time" - so how does one master office politics of in the world of HCI?
I'm starting to see a few HCI-related jobs at Monster & JobsOnline; but I'm still not seeing much that is entry level- certainly not in Chicago.
I have decided that my goal is to become a fireman and practice this field part time (hourly contracts).
I think networking is an excellent way to find the job that's right for you. It's a lot of being at the right place, at the right time. I know it sounds so cliche but just from my own personal experience I've found jobs just by talking to various people. It's not just about the resume and portfolio. It's also about who you know. So keep putting yourself out there - you never know who you'll meet that could be a good lead to a job.
Again.. thanks to all, but if the fire department calls, I would take that job in a second over anything corporate America has to offer.
It might be cool to practice Usability and Interaction Design freelance/part time, but I've had my fill of office work- and its time to find an honorable job. If not the fire deparment, I may get a teaching certificate and teach high school computer science. I'm sure there's room for HCI in a high school curriculum, if only a small bit.
Rachel, if you read this, I'm sorry from straying from the topic!
Here we go.. another week, another blog entry. I've recently been selected as a leader on the 2007 GYLC team, to that's a feather in my cap (and on the resume). GYLC is an international conference in Vienna, Prague and Budapest, with stops in smaller towns as well. My role is to keep the teenagers in line and enjoy the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of central Europe.
Perhaps this trip will enlighten me and expand my thinking with regards to HCI. Using the European web sites alone was enough food for thought! I like how you can switch most of the euro sites to an "English" mode.. why don't we offer that for our guests?????
Another week, another blog posting. It doesn't look like anybody has added any comments in a while, so I may have to start a new topic next week.
I recently read an article about Interactive Video by David Deal at Avenue A Razorfish. There's some interesting points about increasing bandwith and end user demand for video. I agree with him on everything, but I have to say that so many of my non-techie friends have so much crap running on their PCs (spyware, worms, etc) that their bandwith and PC performance is slowed down to a small fraction of the computer's natural capacity. To me, this is just as disappointing as gas prices; or the lack of luck I've had in my job search (thus far!).
Anyway, here is the article about Interactive Video...
http://www.avenuea-razorfish.com/articles/Embrace_Video.pdf
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