It’s a truism, but that doesn’t make the advice to never stop learning any less meaningful. It is probably the number one bit of advice I offer to anyone in regards to career growth. For better or worse, I see designers largely reading and passing around UX and design-focused tutorials – they’re reductive, simplistic, and […]
Category Archives: Work
The interview process
The reality is no single interview format is perfect. Someone has a bad day. They’re too easily faked. They are problematic for people who aren’t neurotypical. They test the wrong things. They’re not respectful of time. Passion isn’t the same as skill. Look. Interviews aren’t fun for anyone. The whole process from initial contact to […]
What’s in a title?
I’ll start with the disclaimer that this is my own opinion, based on my own experience. take everything here with a giant grain of salt (or at least many small ones). Onward! After six and a half years at eBay and multiple roles on several products, I was given a team to manage. Then I […]
New job, new distractions
First, I’ve taken a break from my game design experiment because I started a new job. I’m no longer a UX Manager at eBay. I’m now a Senior UX Designer at Indeed. My thoughts on job titles, taking a management (or individual contributor role), and looking for and leaving jobs will come later. I had […]
What isn’t UX design?
To summarize Christina Wodtke: User Experience Design is the design of: The concept or model for the system (or product) and its organization and use. System behavior, including feedback. How data is ordered and expressed to users. How the user interacts with all of the above, whether it’s a digital, physical, or voice UI, or […]
I gave a talk (part 4)
So, that all sounds very serious. You’re probably thinking “Wow, this sucks. What was I thinking? Why is this guy telling us all of this stuff?” Someone needs to. I’m not trying to scare you off, but you need to realize that work will be a big part of your life moving forward. You’re probably […]
I gave a talk (part 3)
Briefly, I want to share some advice. This is based off my 11 year insane career path, so it’s ok to be a little cynical. Cynicism is underrated. But maybe it’ll help someone here. The most valuable things you will get from any job are experience and connections. Experience in the sense of both portfolio […]
I gave a talk (Part 2)
Picking up where I left off, I had just finished talking about how the industry, as I saw it, had changed in 10 years. Now we get into my sordid career. In 11 years, I have had 11 jobs, not counting short term freelance gigs and side projects. 2 jobs lasted more than 1 year. […]
I gave a talk (part 1)
A few weeks ago, I was invited to speak to the graduating seniors at my alma mater, TCNJ. As a part of their visiting artist series, they invited some alumni back to talk about their particular fields or work environments, and to give advice. It went ok. Frankly, I’m out of practice speaking to groups […]