In the face of a challenging economy, professionals focused on the user experience are still in high demand. The Design and Usability Center (DUC) at Bentley University hosts a User Experience Boot Camp for industrial designers, user experience (UX) researchers, user interface designers, usability specialists, and software and web developers on March 12 -16, 2012, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The sold out event brings together UX professionals from top tech firms and leading corporations around the country – representing some of the top tech firms and leading corporations to explore user experience research and design, and discuss why UX is the dominant competitive advantage in extremely diverse industries.
“The hyper-competitive nature of today’s marketplace challenges companies to differentiate their products and services, and UX professionals can help do that” says Bill Gribbons, director of Bentley’s Master of Science in Human Factors in Information Design, and founder and senior consultant of the DUC. “While many other careers have struggled during this down economy, UX opportunities are thriving, often exceeding supply and offering very competitive salaries.”
The program’s curriculum is carefully designed to reflect emerging market conditions and employer demands, particularly as the marketplace for technology products and services continues to evolve and the competitive landscape grows increasingly complex.
“To meet these challenges, those who design technology or technology based services must adopt new strategies for identifying customer needs and how they integrate this research in their design and development process,” Gribbons says.
The week-long camp helps attendees acquire the skills needed to meet new scenarios and demands through hands-on workshops, interactive discussion sessions, and expert presentations.
The program is organized around five themes:
- Elements of the user experience
- User research and market segmentation
- Design Implementation and innovation
- Assessment and measurement
- Process improvement and success metrics.
The UX Boot Camp offers a powerful combination of presentations by leading authorities, expert panel, and applied workshops. Participating companies include:
- ADP
- Airvana
- Carter Creative
- Circus Company Associates
- Dell Computer, Inc.
- DST Technologies
- EMC
- Liberty Mutual
- Meditech
- Nokia, Inc.
- Oppenheimer Funds, Inc.
- Pearson Education
- Raytheon/BBN Technologies
- TripAdvisor
- US Bank
- Velir
- Waters Corporation
In a team setting, participants will experience the complete design lifecycle by carrying a design problem from research through design to validation. .
Wednesday evening will include a special social event and a talk by guest speaker Chris Cartter, general manager of MeYou Health, the social well-being company. The program concludes with a luncheon and awarding of certificates on Friday.
Created in 2001, the User Experience Boot Camp and Bentley’s Master’s program in Human Factors in Information Design showcase the university's commitment to explore and improve the intersection of business strategy, user experience and product design.
For participants of the User Experience Certificate program, this program fulfills two course requirements: IN922C Usability Testing (required) and an elective course of the participant's choice. Bentley also provides executive education opportunities, available either onsite or online. Faculty may present standard or customized courses and a group minimum of 14 is required.
For more information and a registration form, click here.