Interface designer from scratch. Where to start and how to move?

Question

IT education

Hello!
Previous position - Sales Manager. Work for the sake of earning money, but the experience gained is worth a lot.
Higher education, faculty of radio electronics, but it was a long time ago and the bottom line is the ability to use the head plus an analytical mindset, she did not work in her specialty.
I turn to this resource for help, constructive advice, since I have nowhere else to get them.
What I'm going for: the chosen specialty is extremely interesting to me, and I want to develop in this direction.
In parallel with my studies, I master Sketch (Figma).
In the anamnesis, of course, the old versions of CorelDraw, AutoCad and Photoshop are, of course, already forgotten at the student user level. I mean, I don’t see any particular difficulties in mastering the tools. Plus, in the first years of study, sweaty mastering of C ++ (it was all a long time ago, but not an empty phrase).
Ready to start work as an intern with a salary "to keep his pants" to gain experience.
Time for training - about a year
During this time, I plan to master this specialty (UI / UX) to the trainee level and look for a job. How should one proceed in this direction?
Need advice: how realistic are my ideas? Which of the technical tools do you need to start mastering on your own (since I do not have large financial resources for training and free time - I study at night and in a child's sleep, there are no assistants)?
Regarding the prospect: are there any retraining courses for an international-level specialty that is not quoted in Russia?
Maybe someone went through a similar path at the age of 30 and from scratch. Please share your vision / tips / best practices.

Answer 1

I would give more practical advice:
1. YouTube-> ui process 4-5 vids.
2. YouTube-> ui tutorial 4-5 vids.
3. YouTube-> interface design seminars, lectures 6-15 hours to look at different things in general.
--
4 Google -> best ui design 4-5 sites download examples to folder ui inspiration
5 Pinterest - ui design - 2-3 hours to crawl through the squares below, download examples
6 Behance, dribble - watch, download every day.
- It's been 3 months, the porridge in my head got mixed up, settled down.
7.1 Typography, composition, modular grids, web design - Google for each topic within 1-2 days.
72 You open photoshop/sketch/illustrator/paint in it you open 3-5 screens from any downloaded project. AND THERE WAS NOT! zero zero you redraw. you organize the layers, imagine that you transfer all this to the customer, his requirements, etc.
8 You go to a site like dayly ui challenge, or russiandesigncup and fuck something up from there.
-- 3 months have passed
9 Google, YouTube: UX, information architecture, personas, userflow, etc. - pull up UX
10 Google, YouTube: Resolutions for UI, android screen Sizes/ iOS screen sizes. - going crazy at this point is the norm. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2634898/what-a...
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13487124/andro...
11 Google, YouTube: Style guidelines, deliverables UI, deliverables UX - learning what give to the customer
--
12 FINAL PLAY: making out a beautiful portfolio. At the beginning, it takes 3-10 days for a high-quality presentation. This is the norm. Make 4-6 presentations, project projects from 4-12 screens. Spread on behans
The most difficult thing is to look for refs for the millionth time, to monitor weekly new styles, ideas. ctrl+c ctrl+v, save image as... in the first year are the most frequent actions.
books: a bunch of lists, Separate books on typography, composition, interfaces, etc. later, when questions arise related to PRACTICE. For me, behance and ux dude blogs with live cases are better. there is a lot of information on skillsshare and on slideshare (in Russia it is not available on vpn go)
After a briefcase and an understanding of the processes of freelancing, you do the first 5-10 projects at slave prices for reviews. You can put pride in your ass. Then everything depends on the quality of the portfolio, social skills, and the ability to do business online. You can continue on the exchanges, you can send 100,500 letters to studios with an offer to fulfill orders for 10-30 percent to them. You can become an agency yourself.
In terms of money, this is not oil or even diesel fuel. 10-30tr at the beginning. Then how lucky. ceiling for the average freelancer for the project 100tr. and how much you will do it (a week or 2 months and sleep 5 hours a day) does not fuck anyone.

Answer 2

1 - forget your "after 30"
2 - work == play == hobby == passion... all in one... if it goes like this, everything will work out
ps
.. I'm 52.. and a half already..;))
pps
.. oh yes courses ... courses .. courses .. this is when you vomit for 2-3 evenings / nights, then what others "listen" to "courses" for 2-3 weeks ... then "after 30" in general they don’t mean anything ..
ppps
the only way to make yourself notice is to do .. of course, no one can do something for a million with "0" ... you just can, for starters, do something for "500r" better and faster. .. and you are already in the race .. and already overtaking ..

Answer 3

Hello.
I say right away that everything will be written from below - these are just my observations and the experience of my friends, which do not claim to be the ultimate truth.
People who try to change activities after 30, and more often later, fail due to low earnings / competition among younger and more talented people / due to natural dispositions to this due to activity / and the most commonplace, this is the age that HR looks at .
Now about the pressing. How do you imagine working as a designer if you have not done it before? What development path do you envision? What are your plans for getting your first job in a new field for you? Ask yourself these questions, search and Google'ti, the more you now master the information before you start, the more clearly your development path will be visible to you.
About work. Have you often seen that people over 30 without work experience are hired for a new job related to the technical side of the issue? Have you seen a person come to the factory and say that take me as an engineer, I don’t have a tower, but I have read several books and am ready to work for food? Personally, I don't. So most likely you will be freelancing. There is quite a lot of competition, even abroad. But you still have to learn English, if you have it, it's already good. But the development of freelance, well, such a pleasure. They go there as a specialist.
About training. Google top books for UX. Try to master some of the technical aspects of the question. Make a portfolio. Because a designer's portfolio speaks for him, and don't expect to make a good salary after reading a few books. So practice and more practice.
About someone else's opinion. Hammer and try to bring your desires to life, in any case, new skills will always come in handy in life.
Good luck.

Answer 4

There is a chance. This is a very broad area. The main thing is to identify your strengths and develop in this direction.
The success of mastering a profession does not depend on age, but on one's own abilities. Well, some material conditions.

Answer 5

I recommend taking an accessible and practical online course on UX design from Alexandra Postovalova, she has a Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/alexandra.postovalova
Helps hardworking students with employment. When you fill out, write an application, indicate that you would like assistance in finding a job at the end of the course. Will definitely help. The course is good, practical, I have been looking for this for a long time.

Answer 6

Well, it will be hard for you. It takes a lot of work to get something done. And considering your baby, you have very little time. Those. you will have to spend all your free time on mastering this profession.
If you want exactly UI / UX, then you need to understand how these interfaces are created at the program level, what can be done and what cannot be done. Those. you also need to learn html + css in parallel with typography and compositions.
But nothing is impossible. If this is the case, then everything will be fine.
Good luck!

Answer 7

Try to look for adaptive packs for designers, there are a lot of them now. Including from Envanto and other sites.