Google UX Design Professional Certificate Experience

It's been a month since I completed the Google UX Design Professional Certificate?from Coursera. It was beautiful journey of learning about UX Design. Let's take you to this journey from start to end.

Overview of Google UX Design Professional Certificate

Google UX Design Professional Certificate program is a seven-course series offered by Google on Coursera with content designed for beginners to advanced levels. This program covers all aspects of UX design, from its core concepts to its specific details and elements.

This program costs $49 per month and it takes around 6 months. It is divided into 7 courses which are as follows:

1.????? Foundations of User Experience Design

2.????? Start the UX Design Process: Empathize, Define, and Ideate

3.????? Build Wireframes and Low-Fidelity Prototypes

4.????? Conduct UX Research and Test Early Concepts

5.????? Create High-Fidelity Designs and Prototypes in Figma

6.????? Responsive Web Design in Adobe XD

7.????? Design a User Experience for Social Good & Prepare for Jobs

Each course's content is divided into weeks ranging from 4 to 7. The approximate time required to complete each course is also mentioned in each course which varies from 18 to 62 hours. This program includes three projects, which means that after completing this course, the learner will have three self-built projects to showcase in the real-world.

Why I decided to do Google UX Design Certificate program

Back in December 2022, while working as a frontend developer, the importance of the design process in each and every application really fascinated me. I began observing and learning more about how applications are designed. I discovered my interest in design and was completely overwhelmed to know that design is a very vast field. And in CS, all the category in design is covered under one discipline which is known as the UX field. Before finding my interest in UX, my initial mindset was to be a full-stack developer. I got enough hands-on practice in frontend and it was decided to start learning about backend. But here's change. I made the decision to learn UX design instead of backend development. I checked out UX design courses on different e-learning platforms. There were a lot of UX-related courses provided on different platforms but among all of them, I finalized Google UX Design Professional Certificate. One thing that at first surprised me was that almost all the courses require learner's time for several months. I thought learning this skill would take 3 to 4 consistent months. Even after Google UX Design selection, when I read that it is a seven-course series with an approximate required time of six months, I was amazed. But I also felt excited that it's a professional program and I'll learn a lot in this specialization. I chose the Google course because I knew that I could trust Google for my time. Also, after doing some research on this course, I found that it is ideal for someone who has no prior knowledge of this field.

Journey of learning UX Design and My Experience

I started Google UX Design Professional Certificate program in January. In mid-January 2023, I enrolled in 1st course. In Feb 2023, enrolled in 2nd course and so on. I completed this certificate program in July 2023. It took me six months to transition from someone with no knowledge of UX design to someone with UX design as a core skill. Talking about this program, when I started with courses, I found the content really beneficial. The methodology used by the professors was instruction-based. The courses were well organized and designed. Each course content included video lectures, written content, assignments, practical examples, hands-on practice, peer-to-peer learning, well designed grading system, and other components. In 5th and 6th course, hands-on practice was done on two design tools: Figma and Adobe XD. Aside from offering knowledge about UX Design, there is also guidance provided on how to acquire a job after this course completion, networking, personal branding, and so on.

Few things I really admire of this program. First is the diversity of moderators. Each course has a different moderator. There are also many videos of other designers sharing their journey of how they got into this field, giving advice, highlighting their motivational stories, and telling about their life as a designer at Google. Second is peer-graded assignments. Peers grade each other projects with scores, comments, sharing feedback, improvements for the projects, advices and appreciations. Finally, assessing the learner's focus in video lectures through MCQ's. I found it really good. It helped a lot to stay alert and focused.

Next Step after Completing this course

After completing this course, we need to made a portfolio website, a resume and showcase our work on platforms like Behance and Dribbble. I have selected Behance to showcase my work. I recommend to apply these courses knowledge into practice whether you are working on personal projects or as a designer in a company because the true essence of this program is to apply its knowledge in real-world. Some people wants to get the job after this specialization completion. To do so, one must constantly apply for the jobs. Some will find work immediately after this course completion while others will require to be persistent in their job search for some time. At the end this will worth it.

My Recommendation

For those who want to explore UX field, I will definitely recommend this program. Its content is organized in such a way that it covers everything from very basic details to advanced level knowledge and practices. I assure that after this program completion, you will not regret spending your time and money.

I hope you find this article useful. Thank you for taking the time to read my article.