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I recently had a discussion on linkedin about a lady who had a few years of UX under her belt and she wanted to add more value and give herself more brand value as a professional. She mentioned taking a 1 week course in UX/UI to get some certificate that she could then add to her list of certificates or degrees. First I want to explain something, you do not need degrees to be the best or give yourself brand power, it obviously helps in some professions but not all (I could not just go build bridges and call myself an engineer because I have a hobby on autocad when I have no theoretical training). I know a few very talented UX/UI designers in San Francisco working with big tech companies, and currently making 6 figures; they do not have college degrees, or any formal training in UX/UI design, these are people who have been in web design their whole life and made the jump over to the usability side (Doing my Darth Vader impression).
So to further elaborate on the subject, I think getting some formal training in anything your excited about is vital to your professional brand power, but don't mistake it as something more then that, do not expect to be picked first or land the best contracts. You need to display hard work with a high level of quality in your portfolio, if your a newbie I suggest creating your own projects ( remake facebook) This will give potential clients or hiring agents better insight to your skill set and offer a fair assessment.
Start working on your own projects to build your brand power now, this will give you valuable content for your empty portfolio,(PS don't show anything you did in school, Barf!). Start doing all the research you can to be the second best UX/UI designer on the planet, this industry is trending in new directions weekly, what is hot now will be old and busted next month. (Pinterest is getting negative buz now). Stay current with your designs, practice your flows from multipul entry points, and user test everything more then once (read my coffee shop post). Don't get caught up on UX software I find it can be cumbersome for people who are learning the foundation of UX/UI, start with a sketch pad and a few common colors(RGB) for your wire-framing. Create your annotations and walk through with Power point of Keynote (I usually code it or user a few other methods, but thats later) this will also provide an area for annotations. Annotations are explanations for your page to users or developers, you will explain rollovers, I frames, anything that would require a new user experience on that page, explain anything that you feel requires a high level explanation.
For all you newer UX/UI hopefuls please don't spend all your money on training, I found hundreds of online resources that are free, don't be lazy, part of being a good UX/UI designer is the ability to research the shit out of anything. Also another big things is to join a community of UX designers, find out where we hang out, and play. Remember to have fun and stop to smell the roses along the way.
