Ask Eric: Questions & Answers

March 14, 2011 – submitted by T S S Ganesan of Chennai, India

Question: It seems there is still not a streamlined designation across our industry. Each organization follows its own norms. This is really confusing and at times irritating. This is a concern when one switches jobs or moves up the ladder.

Two Questions:
1. Are there any steps taken to streamline the process.
2. According to you what designations should be given starting from a trainee upward. If you could also brief what should be one's work for that level as invariably the designations do change but the work remains the same.

Eric's response: There is massive inconsistency in titles for UX staff. I see a "Senior User Experience Specialist" at HFI, with a low-to-middle rating on performance, leave HFI to become the "Director of User Experience" for huge name-brand organizations. I recently saw the head of half of the UX work for a systems integrator, test only a C+ on our entrance test. I think this is part of why the CUA/CXA certifications are so hot. It provides at least a baseline.

So "don't be fooled by titles" is the best advice. At Bell Labs, I remember meeting luminaries that made more money then the company CEO and changed technology forever, with the title "Member of the Technical Staff".

You can sort of tell if someone is managing people - sort of. So, a "Group Lead" or "Director" is probably also managing. But other then that look at education, training, certification, and experience.

And thanks, maybe some day I will try to define a industry standard set of titles. But today I will be happy if we keep the name of our field stable, for just a few years.

Eric
Human Performance Engineer
Human Factors Specialist
Software Ergonomist
Usability Expert
User Experience Designer