[Sigia-l] starting out in the business

[Saffer, Dan]

My feeling is, as soon as someone pays you to do IA work, you can feel
justified in calling yourself one. :) Ours is a craft that can't be done
in a vacuum (unlike, say a fine artist, writer, composer), and until you
have engaged in project work in a professional setting, putting IA on
your business card seems a little premature. :)

As far as a lack of HCI background...fake it. :) Read a lot. Check out
the IA Canon (http://www.iawiki.net/IACanon) for lists of HCI books.

More than likely, few employers are going to expect an inexperienced IA
to have vast knowledge about HCI anyway (if they even know what HCI is).

Dan

dan saffer  .  sr. interaction designer
ameritrade  .  dsaffer at datek.com