Starting the Google Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design Certification on Coursera

It’s my firm belief that if we as technical writers do not level up our skills, we’ll fall behind on new technology at a time when it could be catastrophic to our careers. As AI tools gain momentum and mass-adoption, taking a modern certification course is a good way to keep the brain’s wheels turning, and helps show your employer or future employer that you’re interested in your trade and in getting better at your craft. Hopefully it fulfills some desire within yourself to improve as well.

So, here I am and I’ve decided to pursue Google’s Foundations of UX certification course on the Coursera platform. I’ve just finished week one and I’ll document my expereience here from time to time just as a means for keeping myself honest and motivated. I’ve always been interested in UX. I’ve worked adjacent to UX staff since my start in technical writing, and they always seemed to be working on projects that looked fun, certainly more colorful projects than my own instruction manuals and online help. I like that it’s closely related to my own field, and is another branch of the tree that is wholly consumed by the user and how to best teach or serve the user.

Week one of the course was a broad overview of the field. It’s definitely piqued my interest and I’m even looking at another course offered through MIT if I can fit it into my schedule. The second week will cover UX best practices and emerging trends. I believe the course is about two years old, so hopefully it’s still relevant to the fast-changing field. I’m eager to get to the tools portion as the syllabus says students will build several portfolio pieces. More to come on that as I progress.

What about you? What courses have you taken as a technical writer that benefitted your career or gave you some sort of personal fulfillment? Write to me at ryansternbergworks@gmail.com and maybe I can make a post about it in the future.