skills/expertise/experience (was: Re: [thelist] a weird quest ion)

Boerner, Brian J brian.j.boerner at lmco.com
Thu Jan 18 14:15:31 CST 2001


and if you namedrop Jakob Nielsen??  ;^)

-----Original Message-----
From: aardvark [mailto:roselli at earthlink.net]
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 1:03 PM
To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
Subject: Re: skills/expertise/experience (was: Re: [thelist] a weird
question)


> From: Erika Meyer <erika at seastorm.com>
> 
> I'm curious: what would constitute, oh, just to pull one out, an 
> expert in 'interface design.' ?
> 
> Would you have had to have done some years at Xerox PARC... have been 
> on the original Macintosh design team... or would a few years of 
> hacking web sites do it?  Would you need some software and/or CD rom 
> experience in addition to web design?  Would you need a degree in it?

that would certainly help... and that's exactly why i scoff at those 
resumes and quiz those applicants (albeit briefly) to find out just 
how much bs they're flinging...

> I see this a lot: "5+ years experience in interface design."  I 
> always wonder if I have had to have been designing application 
> interfaces for 5 years, or if my experience making construction paper 
> christmas cards and English 100 handouts would count.... or how about 
> the books I've read on the subject?

heh... now we can get into some existential discussions about 
interfaces... after all, isn't a doorknob an interface?  i've installed 
those before, does that count?

> And what about raw talent?  Does anyone give a damn about that?

nah... seriously, that's why i always ask to see examples... and i 
would hope anyone claiming to be an expert in something has 
examples handy... hell, even those who claim to be pretty darn 
good had better be able to back it up...

> I'm just wondering.  Because from the EMPLOYEE perspective, a lot of 
> EMPLOYER'S are asking a heckofalot... for relatively modest 
> compensation.

well, nobody here is trying to hire a usability or UI expert... we 
couldn't afford one... instead, i try to uphold the general concepts 
and practice the lessons we've learned while applying all the 
research findings that exist... testing, focus groups, etc...

but if someone lists it on his/her resume, then he/she is fair game 
for a quiz, and the expectation that, if hired, he/she would be 
better than me at that (since i'm not en expert -- yet)...

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