It’s funny because I kind of did both and really lucked out that my path was so lucrative. I’ve also been working since I was 12. Very quickly in my life I had a passion for both programming and UX. The issue was that UX wasn’t actually a field yet, so much as a way of thinking promoted by a coalition of graphic designers, engineers, and marketers. The only way to get a job in it was to convince someone to create it for you (which is honestly an extremely valuable experience to have gone through).
In college I knew what I wanted to do, but there weren’t classes in it yet, and our CS classes were terrible. I chose Math as a major with a double minor in physics and philosophy, as I figured it would give me a strong underlying foundational skill set that could be harnessed towards any technical goal I wanted later. I spent all of my spare time designing, programming, and attending conferences where other HCI/UX people might be. I stalked the poor Mac team and pestered them with questions. As a result, I have a unique knowledge of the art and science of usability that almost no one else in the world has.
That has turned out to be extremely lucrative… but I lucked out because I feel like I *had* to follow that path, even if it didn’t pay. I followed my passion. At the same time, I set myself up for success by giving myself a foundation that has continued to let me grow and reinvent myself as needed throughout the years. (e.g. The math background lets me understand how AI works behind the scenes, and offer approaches that other designers can’t)
Excellent Article!
It’s funny because I kind of did both and really lucked out that my path was so lucrative. I’ve also been working since I was 12. Very quickly in my life I had a passion for both programming and UX. The issue was that UX wasn’t actually a field yet, so much as a way of thinking promoted by a coalition of graphic designers, engineers, and marketers. The only way to get a job in it was to convince someone to create it for you (which is honestly an extremely valuable experience to have gone through).
In college I knew what I wanted to do, but there weren’t classes in it yet, and our CS classes were terrible. I chose Math as a major with a double minor in physics and philosophy, as I figured it would give me a strong underlying foundational skill set that could be harnessed towards any technical goal I wanted later. I spent all of my spare time designing, programming, and attending conferences where other HCI/UX people might be. I stalked the poor Mac team and pestered them with questions. As a result, I have a unique knowledge of the art and science of usability that almost no one else in the world has.
That has turned out to be extremely lucrative… but I lucked out because I feel like I *had* to follow that path, even if it didn’t pay. I followed my passion. At the same time, I set myself up for success by giving myself a foundation that has continued to let me grow and reinvent myself as needed throughout the years. (e.g. The math background lets me understand how AI works behind the scenes, and offer approaches that other designers can’t)
Good for you!
If your college degree doesn’t have enough value for you to pay it off, it certainly doesn’t have enough value for me to pay it off.