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What to study for a potential career in either marketing or UX design?

I'm already a psychology major and 1.5 years into my program. My program requires me to declare a minor and I'm currently torn between economics and design (specifically web design/development) and these are probably the only paths I can godown if I want to graduate on time. Whilst I know that economics is the "safer" option and is generally considered better for job prospects, I feel that design teaches more hard skills and is probably more practical whereas economics is really just theory. Any advice? #art #design #career-choice #programs #technology #marketing #UX #UXdesign

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Mitch’s Answer

Hi Georgina,

I've actually hired several people who have degrees in psychology for design roles, usually design strategists. A huge component of design is research and psychology helps understand the why behind the what. My best advice is choose whichever path where your passion is. Don't be afraid to try something new, different or scary.

Good luck!
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Josh’s Answer

While I can't speak for the Economics route, I currently work as a UX designer, and I would say that the job prospects for this industry are plentiful. I can't see UX Designers going away any time soon. Technology is only getting more prevalent and more a part of our everyday lives, so the need for good design will be there for a while. Many of the UX designers I've worked with in my career have come from Psychology backgrounds, and they are some of the most interesting and knowledgable people I've worked with. I would say that is a very strong foundation if you do decide to go that route. Many psych backgrounds go into the research side of things, which you may want to explore. Many of the principles you're learning now will certainly apply. If you're looking for a career where you continue to learn, and have the freedom to explore a variety of industries, then UX might be a good option. Good luck!
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Ken’s Answer

You can answer this question and make a decision between the competing areas by following these steps:

  • get to know yourself to assure that you are following a career for which you have the suitable personality traits to match those who are successful in that career area and
  • pursue interpersonal, face to face, networking to become familiar with the many aspects of your career area to discover if it is a comfortable match.


Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .

Ken recommends the following next steps:

You can achieve your desired career if you take these steps: get to know yourself to assure that you are following a career for which you have the suitable personality traits to match those who are successful in that career area and pursue interpersonal, face to face, networking to become familiar with the many aspects of your career area to discover if it is a comfortable match. Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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Areej’s Answer

Hi Georgina,

I am in marketing now but I studies Mechanical engineering for my undergrad and then went to business school.


My short answer is.. study WHATEVER you want and you can still get a job in any field! Thats's the truth. With that said, if you want to make the path more linear, then I would recommend the following:


For Marketing:

Any business or marketing majors, statistics, and/or advertising.


For UX design:

User research, design, engineering , product development, and/or <span style="color: rgb(93, 103, 106);">Phycology. </span>


Also, please remember you can always Major is WHATEVER subject you enjoy/love/passionate about and the Minor in the field you believe you want to apply the subject you love in. For example: You love <span style="color: rgb(93, 103, 106);">Phycology but you </span>think you want to pursue <span style="color: rgb(93, 103, 106);">a career in UX or Marketing, then I would recommend you Major in Phycology and Minor in Business or marketing or design..etc</span>


<span style="color: rgb(93, 103, 106);">Best of luck!</span>

Areej recommends the following next steps:

Write down what subject you love/passionate about.
Research careers students pursued after studying that subject in college (you can find that on university websites for that particular major)
If that does not align with your career goals, think about minors you can take
Email faculty members at university about your interest and their advice and any college internships in the field you want
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Mohammad Rameez’s Answer

Marketing and UX design are compeletly different. Previous answers already specify what you need to study based for these two fields.
However, I would like to add a point.

Since you have done a major in psychology, User research is something you can think about. If you are really passionate about psycology, then you can take up user reserach as you rcareer option. You dont have to go for extra course. You can find lot of free material online which will help you start with.

If you are really passionate about psychology and want to pursue career on that, then User research is something that you should be looking for.
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Donal’s Answer

Agree on the point above from Mohammad - these are VERY different areas. I personally would recommend focusing on research led design or aim to join a user centred UX team (these can also be in a marketing team but usually in a product or software team), and your psychology degree will help your differentiate through user research.

So in short I believe the demand for UX skills is growing exponentially in the jobs and tech market compared to marketing (usability and design UX is a key differentiator now) and you could stand out by focusing on or centring on user research or UX research due to psychology.
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