wersdaluv
September 13th, 2009, 04:19 PM
I am a psychology graduate and am into industrial psychology. The usual path we take is human resource. However, as a software enthusiast, I discovered a field that interests me very much, software usability.
I am very keen on this field and am trying to use my knowledge and skills to contribute to FOSS by reporting bugs and suggesting to developers. It is not very easy to communicate my ideas, though. Canonical's Matthew Paul Thomas describes this very well in his article called Why Free Software has poor usability, and how to improve it (http://mpt.net.nz/archive/2008/08/01/free-software-usability). I will use his suggestions for me to contribute more to FOSS but it doesn't end there.
As a fresh graduate, I am thinking about ways to earn a living. Yes, it is a necessity. Many people tend to have a career that's different from their hobby because of hindrances like lack of opportunity. I think, it is unfortunate and I may end up doing the same thing if there really are no opportunities.
To be more assured that I'll earn a living out of the specialization that I want, I am planning to study programming. Writing my own code could be the only way for me to do software usability. I am from the Philippines and I haven't seen a job opportunity for this field in my country yet. Software usability is so much of a specialization and it seems that its job opportunities only exist in the research and development department in head offices of big software companies. It's even harder to find a job description that includes software design exclusively. It is very difficult to get those jobs for people like me.
As Matthew Paul Thomas (2008 ) said, "Some programmers are also great designers, but most aren’t. Programming and human interface design are separate skills, and people good at both are rare." I do not have programming skills yet and I will find out if I can program well after I take my programming crash course (if I tend to pursue it). If it turns out that other than being keen on user interface design, I can also code well, I'll definitely pursue programming as a career by working for a local firm or as a freelancer. However, if it turns out that my interest in software is limited to design, where do I go?
What do you think about careers in software design? Is this just for the very selected few? Should designers also be coders to be successful in this field of expertise? What can you suggest to people like me to contribute as much as possible to software and earn a living?
I am very keen on this field and am trying to use my knowledge and skills to contribute to FOSS by reporting bugs and suggesting to developers. It is not very easy to communicate my ideas, though. Canonical's Matthew Paul Thomas describes this very well in his article called Why Free Software has poor usability, and how to improve it (http://mpt.net.nz/archive/2008/08/01/free-software-usability). I will use his suggestions for me to contribute more to FOSS but it doesn't end there.
As a fresh graduate, I am thinking about ways to earn a living. Yes, it is a necessity. Many people tend to have a career that's different from their hobby because of hindrances like lack of opportunity. I think, it is unfortunate and I may end up doing the same thing if there really are no opportunities.
To be more assured that I'll earn a living out of the specialization that I want, I am planning to study programming. Writing my own code could be the only way for me to do software usability. I am from the Philippines and I haven't seen a job opportunity for this field in my country yet. Software usability is so much of a specialization and it seems that its job opportunities only exist in the research and development department in head offices of big software companies. It's even harder to find a job description that includes software design exclusively. It is very difficult to get those jobs for people like me.
As Matthew Paul Thomas (2008 ) said, "Some programmers are also great designers, but most aren’t. Programming and human interface design are separate skills, and people good at both are rare." I do not have programming skills yet and I will find out if I can program well after I take my programming crash course (if I tend to pursue it). If it turns out that other than being keen on user interface design, I can also code well, I'll definitely pursue programming as a career by working for a local firm or as a freelancer. However, if it turns out that my interest in software is limited to design, where do I go?
What do you think about careers in software design? Is this just for the very selected few? Should designers also be coders to be successful in this field of expertise? What can you suggest to people like me to contribute as much as possible to software and earn a living?