016 : When the consultant gets interns with Lis Hubert

Lis-HubertI love talking to programmers who no longer spend majority of their time writing code. Having a background in software development bring such a unique and analytical perspective to even project, and that’s definitely true of this week’s podcast episode.

My guest is Lis Hubert, the user experience consultant behind Hubert Experience Design. She was writing Java when she got her first information architecture job offer, and her career has blossomed from there. I talk to her about her experiences in the field and she even shares was it was like to hire two interns at her one-woman UX operation last year.

Entrepreneurship is about working for yourself, and that’s exactly what Lis is doing. There’s great information in here if you’re looking to do the same.

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014 : The User Doesn’t Always Need It Easy with Mona Patel

Mona Patel Motivate DesignYou probably have an idea for an app or website, and you think that people would use it, but how can you find out what will really happen when you put your product out into the world? The field of user experience is about way more than laying out websites so they’re easy to use — it’s a combination of design, psychology, and science. You have to do research, create a hypothesis, test your hypothesis, and change accordingly. You have to figure out what the user really wants to do.

This week on the podcast, I talk to Mona Patel, the founder and CEO of Motivate Design and UXHires. We talk about what it’s like to found and run a UX agency and what entrepreneurs can do to instantly improve their user’s experience. We even peer out into the future a little, and Mona shares why she thinks virtual reality will completely change the way people experience the world. She says something I have never even thought about that completely blew my mind.

This episode will help you stop building products and start building products that people will actually use.

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005 : Fostering good design when you’re artistically inept with Mike Blea

NNL PodcastI first met Mike Blea (of Michael Blea Design) when I worked at LAPTOP Magazine. He was part of the magazine’s design team, building the magazine’s layout, mocking up covers, and helping with graphics for web. We’ve remained friends even after both of us left that job, and Mike even helped me design the cover for 8 Things to Learn Before Making Your App.

I wanted to bring Mike on the show to have a fresh perspective on building products. I, personally, am completely design challenged — a glaringly apparent fact when looking at the first version of my first app Reader Tracker. I’ve learned a lot about the value of good design since then, and Mike has definitely helped me out along the way.

Mike gives some insights into the life of a professional designers and shares some tips for hiring a freelance designer of your own. If you work it right, you won’t end up spending a fortune.

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001 : It’s never too late to become a coder with Will Larche

NNL PodcastIn this inaugural episode of the Novice No Longer Podcast, I’m joined by Will Larche, the Lead iOS Developer at LearnVest. This episode is a little different than the stuff I usually teach — I almost always tell my students to hire a developer rather than learn to code themselves. But sometimes learning to program is the right path, and Will proves that anyone can become a developer, regardless of previous experience. Continue reading