I'm going to risk Will Evans trying to order coffee from me for being too theoretical (^_^) but a few things.
As "a profession," we're still defining ourselves. We started out as disparate professions and academic disciplines prior to c. 2001-2002. Then we started being drawn to and blending with each other -with our existing skillsets/competencies- when 2nd generation web was *really *hitting its stride and was a well-funded, massively-creative frontier. Since 2002ish a critical mass started defining ourselves as being almost the same. Because we play in the same pond, and ---at that time...until rather recently--- we also bonded over a particular new smart radical mindset/ideology/approach (i.e., radically diverging from the status quo of each of the original disciplines/professions). There were these schisms that we inherited from our legacy professions that didn't make sense to us. So we blurred the lines and were a new fluid creative mass. Now we seem to be fragmenting again. And also seem to be resisting accepting that reality. Still insisting we're the same. But we're not. I think that's what we're seeing in this discush---as well as people looking to educate and be eduated -- to hire and be hired. I don't mean that negatively. But a developer, even a skilled front-end developer, isn't a user researcher. A visual designer isn't an information architect. A designer whose strength is understanding the nature of interaction isn't a data junkie. Many work artifacts are the same, but the cognitive and creative strengths---and increasingly, it seems----backgrounds cultivated through new educational programs, are different. (see prgms at RISD to Carnegie Mellon IxD to U Mich HCI) Current economics might seem to recommend hiring people with breadth and depth in *all *of these areas --- but reality is breadth and depth of **all** of these don't come in one person. Clearly, you'll get multiple skillsets per person -- but you can't get 6 or 7. At least not with any degree of expertise or depth. When you can, it's a person who''s been busy cultivating a variety of facets over a bunch of years. If you need a researcher and a front-end developer, and the front-end developer doesn't have background and proficiency in research---regardless of "passion"--they'll be a front-end developer. And your research will fall by the wayside. As for internships, apprenticeships etc ---- I also see this as part of where we are as a profession. More mature professions have mentoring, internships, apprenticeships baked into themselves. Corporations aren't to be looked to for the answer. We have to determine it's necessary. I've chosen to contract since 2005 because it's a flexible lifestyle --- but soon I'll be moving into permanent FT employment. And when I do---as I *always *have in permanent jobs, I promise to set up an intern/apprentice program. Why? It's good for me as a manager, it's good for other employees, at all levels, and I personally believe we owe it to new people coming into our profession---in the same way we were all given breaks (yes, we also made our own breaks - but we did have more of an open frontier to barge around in and define, and we all were given a hand by someone else). Down the road I'm happy to help my peers set up programs like this. Maybe I'll put together an article/talk about it. Back in maybe 2000 I presented on this topic at Special Libraries Assn annual conference. As I said offline to Paul, and echoing what folks here have said----it's not effortless to bring in really junior people. It's time-consuming as hell and sometimes frustrating. But it's also stimulating, fun, surprising, lively, and positively challenging -- and an extra brain, set of eyes, hands to get work done, for not a lot of money. As far as "execute" I'd be curious if Mark and Will are in agreement about what execute means. I maybe Will saying it's about cranking out work/artifacts, while I hear Mark saying it's about being able to navigate complex environments, projects, personalities, politics, to be able to articulate a perspective and point of view, to teach, and to be a keen thinker and problem solver (beyond wireframes). Susan On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 11:49 AM, Michael Micheletti < michael.michele...@gmail.com> wrote: > Bryan you have no idea how reassuring this is to me. I've been designing, > and then helping build, web and desktop and mobile applications for years > now. Our IxDA community hasn't really embraced and encouraged hands-on craft > enough for me to feel entirely comfortable. This helps. > > I just finished a "Hollywood" UI prototype for a BlackBerry communications > app yesterday. Wrote it myself, in Java. The developers will dismantle my > prototype for layout parts, graphics, and other interface components. Our > business folks are stopping in this morning to push buttons and critique the > prototype loaded on a couple BlackBerrys. > > The upshot is that, if I wanted the UI to look and work great, I was going > to have to build a lot of it myself. This came after a several week design > cycle, with lots of wireframes, whiteboard work, meetings, and general > arm-waving. The kind of thing that Interaction Designers do. When they're > not building their designs. > > Thanks again for the vote of confidence. It's fun to make stuff. > > Michael Micheletti > > On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 7:49 AM, Bryan Minihan <bjmini...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I agree with the "If you can execute, they will come" point. >> >> I live in the non-agency, FT product development and implementation side of >> design - mostly big enterprise apps and small startup products, and >> gravitate toward managing design and development teams. Design is in my >> DNA, so all of my teams have to have a design component. That means I need >> at least one person on my team to keep the usability factor ahead of the >> geek factor. >> >> If you're new to the field, and looking for someone to shadow or for whom >> to intern, the best I can say is: bring your strongest skillset to a job, >> even if it's unrelated to IxD or design, and be passionate enough about >> design to move into that role on your own. >> >> I led a usability research team for a large company awhile back, many of >> whom were master or phd-level human factors folks. While they were all >> absolutely brilliant researchers, by admission, most of them could not >> execute their recommendations beyond Visio, PPT or Photoshop. To maintain >> our relevance in the organization, I did most of the translation into >> functional prototypes for the team. I learned many new research techniques >> from them, and they didn't have to worry about the "geek stuff". Once I >> left the company, however, the group eventually dissolved for lack of >> tangible impact on their projects. >> >> I guess the point is: If I have budget for one designer, and a resume for >> a genius researcher, a photoshop guru, or a front-end developer with a >> passion for the previous two, I'll pick the third resume. Otherwise, I have >> to do the front-end work, and I'm not getting as much for my budget. Bring >> something to augment your desire for IxD experience, and you won't have a >> problem going where you want...just be patient and expect to spend several >> months to a year slowly moving into the role. >> >> >> Bryan Minihan >> Email: bjmini...@gmail.com >> Cell: 919-428-4744 >> Web: http://www.bryanminihan.com >> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanminihan >> >> >> On Feb 25, 2010, at 10:16 AM, mark schraad wrote: >> >> > I hope this is not too much of a tangent... >> > >> > Over the last month I have probably looked at close to a hundred resumes. >> > This is only partially specific to the Chicago area, but there is a ton >> of >> > talent out there. There are a lot of folks with excellent educational >> > background, wonderful experience and great portfolios to show. What I >> find >> > myself more and more concerned with is the ability to partner with >> product >> > and technology folks to move great design forward and into the market. >> > Frankly, it really does not matter if you are the worlds greatest uber >> > designer... >> > if you can't sell it, work collaboratively and push your passion through >> the >> > labyrinth of compromise. Not everyone needs to have these skills, but in >> my >> > world it will surely get you hired quicker and make you a more complete >> > professional. >> > >> > This has been my call to the world of education (both under grad and >> grad) >> > for the last year or so. You have to do more than supply studio skills. >> You >> > have to teach students to think, to adapt, to explore and to work in >> their >> > future environment. >> > >> > Mark >> > ________________________________________________________________ >> > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! >> > To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org >> > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe >> > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines >> > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help >> >> ________________________________________________________________ >> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! >> To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org >> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe >> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines >> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help >> > > > > -- > Michael Micheletti > michael.michele...@gmail.com > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Susan Doran 55 Morning Street Portland ME 04101 207-774-4963 (land) 202-296-4849 (cell) /susandoran (facebook) @susandoran (twitter) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! 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