Training Up to Senior

A panel discussion with: Kaaren Hanson, Paul Sherman, Stephanie Rosenbaum, Wendy Castleman.

These notes from the flip charts capture the audience discussion and augment the slides for the session:

Training Up To Senior - Bridging The Gulf Between Internships And Senior UCD Positions

Strategies for companies to train junior folks up to senior

• Contractors 2:1
  1. More experience than staff
  2. Some stay [as long as] 4 years
  3. Train employees
• Certification programs
• Send developers and technical communicators to training
• Hire MS from top design schools
• Give people different opportunities to grow skills
• Hire SMEs as designers, teach UCD (Autodesk)
• Hire process – oriented, intuitive people
• Hire people who can take initiative, be change agents, teach negotiation skills (course), join on-campus initiatives (Motorola)
• Give people lots of room to grow (Google)
• “Train the trainer” certification programs
• Recruit from the top schools, intern positions
• Give top folks more opportunities, mentor with others
• Hire process – oriented and creative/intuitive people
• Suitcase training, bring to the team

What didn’t work to train junior folks up to senior

• Academic programs several years behind the times, also uneven quality
• Without academic credentials, people move out of the profession
• Industry must tell academia what we need
• Need work/business/politics experience
• Need internship before “real” job
• Hard to find real problems during interview process
• Need collaborative cultural skills, communities of practice
• “Tweeners” who move between UER, design
• Some academic programs are behind the curve
• Some programs provide wide training, not deep enough

Moving Up To Senior…What Do I Do?

• Cross-train, SDLC, business, keep mouth shut – listen!
• Mentoring/Pairing up
• Road of hard-knocks
• Work at consulting company
• Fight way into projects – go into other meetings
• Professional groups/volunteer
• VOLUNTEER!
• Need to learn teamwork outside of school
• In young profession, job definitions not cast in concrete