Learning User Experience Design

Despite seeing suggestions to not call people “users” in UX, user experience design affects everyone, whether they work in technology at a high level or use technology from systems to someone just using their phone.

Google’s Abigail Posner says, “When we use the word ‘user’ it implies just when that person is using that device. The device is the story; the user is just the person who uses it. So if we take away that word and think about the human being then the kind of research that we would use would be much broader, much deeper, and therefore really allow us to understand the human being who uses that technology or uses that software.”

Gizmodo lists the Degrees of the Future 2022 top UX Design programs at universities. But is the Google UX Design Certificate worthwhile?

It is a low-cost design certificate and worth considering if you are new to the user experience (UX) design field or job market. It costs students less than $200 from start to finish.

Can you compete with someone that has a degree with a certificate? You will clearly have competition applying for entry-level UX design jobs. It would be advisable to try for some freelance design work or do volunteer work for non-profits while completing the certificate to build up your resume and give you samples of your skills.