Usability Experience Specialists : Work Profile, Education & Salary

Also referred to as user experience specialists or usability manager, the job of a usability experience specialist is to make the more and more consumer friendly by focusing on consumer preferences. To ensure pleasurable and easy use of products for consumers, usability managers interview users, analyze their needs and preferences and develop and implement ideas that make a product highly user friendly. These professionals can work on a wide range of products the next generation gadgets, medical imaging machines, cell phones and websites among others. Considering the work profile, least difficult training and education requirement, and the high pay, career as usability experience specialist happens to be one of the most satisfying for candidates.

After getting listed in the list of America's Best Careers on US News, the usability specialist's career has gained considerable attention. Companies now understand the actual worth of user specialists' professionals. User experience specialists are mostly hired by companies that deal in technical products. However, web usability specialists are also getting much popularity these days. As a usability manager, professionals need to observe and analyze the user behavior and then come up with ideas on the basis of those usability guidelines.

Work Profile
While working for a company, usability managers play a vital role through all the stages of product development. The company you work for may plan to develop a next generation tool or gadget. So, user experience specialists would require to attend a meeting with the company's CEO, marketing managers and representatives from the finance department. In the meeting, you will be listening to the rough parameters of the upcoming product given by the representatives and the CEO. You will come across a number of questions, ifs and buts, hows and whys etc.

For most part of the meeting, you would act as an avid listener. At the same time, you would make suggestions and put your questions as well regarding the development of the new product. Now begins the actual task. As a usability expert, you would now require to visit professionals or consumers who are using a previous version of the similar product. You will be conducting interviews with users, ask them what they like and what they do not and most importantly what changes they would like to see in the product to make it more user-friendly.

Next, you would need to summarize the whole interview, likes and dislikes and prepare a report keeping in with the usability guidelines. Again, you would have a meeting with the senior managers and the other representatives from the company. You will get in touch with engineers and ask them to develop a prototype of the product as suggested. Finally, when the prototype is ready, the usability manager would have users to use the product and note their experience and comments. More user friendly changes may be required depending on the user's need.

Education Requirement & Degree in Usability
Though a master's degree in usability maximizes the chances of landing user experience specialist jobs, candidates can also start their career in this field with a number of backgrounds. A bachelor's degree in computer science, human computer interaction, technical communication cognitive psychology and business can prepare you for a career in usability experience. A master's degree in these fields would be more beneficial. Some additional experience in customer service, marketing and product development would help candidates a lot in establishing a successful usability specialist's career. Strict attention, logical thinking and relentless curiosity are the other skills that will help you in the advancement of your career.

User Experience Specialist's Salary
Usability experts who have an experience of eight years or more earn an annual salary ranging between $82,900 and $120,000. The average median salary of an experience usability specialist is $96,200. As you gain more and more experience in usability, marketing and product development, you can look forward to earning a higher salary. Numerous industry conferences are organized on usability and user behavior research. Do remember to attend these seminars and conferences.