Skills for a Product Designer at a Non-Profit Education Company
For a Product Designer at a non-profit education company, Ashley emphasizes "listening and understanding" to translate business needs into user needs, also stating that patience is key because "people don't know what they don't know." Furthermore, while creative problem-solving is important, tech knowledge is also beneficial for ensuring designs are feasible within the existing environment.
User Research, Communication, Problem-Solving, Technical Knowledge, Product Design
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Ashley McWilliams
Product Designer
Non-profit education company
Arkansas State University
Engineering, IT, Math & Data
Education, Nonprofit, Foundations & Grantmaking
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Scholarship Recipient, Worked 20+ Hours in School, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Listening and understanding user needs is crucial, as you need to translate business owner information into user-friendly solutions.
2. Patience is key when working with stakeholders who may not fully understand their own needs, requiring you to carefully extract that information.
3. Having technical knowledge is beneficial to ensure designs are feasible within the existing environment.
Transcript
What are some skills that are most important for a job like yours?
The primary skills would be listening and understanding. You have to be able to take in information from business owners and translate that into user needs. Then, you talk to users, hear and understand what they're saying, and bring the two together.
You have to be very patient. A lot of times, people don't know what they don't know, so trying to tease that out of them can be a struggle. You also need to be able to think outside the box for new ideas and new ways of attacking a problem that hasn't been solved.
However, you still have to keep best practices in mind. There's structure, but not always a lot. One skill many people in my industry overlook is that it helps to have some tech knowledge. That way, as you're envisioning what could be done, you don't design something that can't exist in your environment.