This is something we get asked a lot. And it’s not surprising—UX designers are in

demand right now. Executives and managers are realising that a user’s experience of

a company’s product or service is crucial to their bottom line, and that that experience

can be designed.

So we thought we'd put together a short video that summarises what we think is the best

way to get started in user experience. We break it down into six steps.

The first step is for you to get educated. Now, we don’t mean that you need to go and

invest three years and thousands of dollars into a university degree in interaction design

or something. There are plenty of great books, and a lot of excellent online courses that

you can work through in your own time to get going.

Your second step is to get the right tools. In terms of software, it's absolutely crucial

that you get yourself a copy of some wireframing software, like Balsamiq mockups or Axure, and some

screen capture software such as Silverback or Camtasia. These tools aren't free, but

they will empower you to be able to create low-fidelity prototypes, and test them with

real users. And remember that your toolkit should include non-software tools—the three

Ps: pens, paper, and post-its.

Your next step is to get some experience. You have a ton of options here—it could

be a personal project, a not-for-profit that you donate your time to, or a hypothetical

client that you take it upon yourself to research and redesign. What's important is that you

start following a user-centred process, and iterating and folding in regular feedback

from users along the way.

It's also important that you get connected. Find other UXers in your area—through meetup.com

or a professional association like IxDA. Reach out to prominent bloggers in the UX space.

Ask questions in the UX Mastery community forums. These relationships can be invaluable

for keeping you motivated, helping you learn, and finding your next job!

You should also get a mentor. This doesn’t need to be a formal relationship, but you

do need someone who is more experienced and can offer advice on how to solve design problems

and how to manage your career. You may even have a few people in your network already, who can

mentor you on different topics.

Your last step is to get hired. This involves taking all of that experience that you've

accumulated, and presenting it in some form of portfolio, either online or in print, like

many graphic designers do. You shouldn’t show off visual design artefacts though—you

should use this portfolio to explain the process you follow, use it as a launchpad to tell a story about the projects

you've worked on.

That's it! If you put time into each of these six steps, then give yourself a gold star—you’re

well on your way to a successful career as a UX designer!

If you'd like to hear more, check out our ebook, which is called Get Started in UX.

It explores each of these six steps in detail, and comes with a ton of bonus material.

Grab your copy now from uxmastery.com/get-started/