You are allowed to misinterpret what I have written. You are allowed to twist it, add things I don’t think and haven’t said, and you can do that if it somehow makes you feel better. If it solves problems you have. I can’t stop you, and I shouldn’t bother trying to defend myself. You might *need* my article to say what you are hearing, even if it’s not what I wrote and not what I intended.

But I believe in trying a third time before walking away. So let’s explain this one more time, and then we can close this conversation and agree to disagree on what my opinion is (huh?).

People *should* avoid bootcamps and online courses. They are mostly scams. They are not teaching the right things the right ways. “Instructors” often have little or no UX experience. “Mentors” and “tutors” often have little or no UX experience. And that’s if you GET mentoring or coaching. Most programs leave you to guess and give very general feedback late in the game. Not actionable. Not helping people apply concepts.

I’m not ostracizing people who learned this way. I have hired them and will hire them because I don’t care how you learned. I am looking for talent, low ego, personality, heart, intelligence, critical thinking, resilience, and at least a foundational knowledge of CX/UX so I’m not starting at zero.

Visual designers *should* study cognitive psych and accessibility if they don’t want to be order takers or production designers. I won’t ostracize you if you haven’t studied those, but you’re less likely to work in my predicted CX world. I’m getting the feeling your perceptions of my article assume that if you haven’t done something I suggest (or you’ve done something I suggest against) that I am somehow deeply against YOU. That I want you out of some sort of exclusive club.

You seem to need to hear that even if I’m not saying it. I can only tell you that I’m not saying that. But this is my third time telling you this, so this is where I walk away. I cannot change whatever is happening in your mind that needs to hear what you are applying to me, even when I tell you it’s not what I am saying.

There *is* thoughtlessness in most UX work. Critical thinking is not in style right now. Companies think they want people guessing at wireframes fast. No time for research or testing. That’s thoughtless. You can put thought into your best guess, but this is a process that works against people who want to be change agents and critical thinkers. Our speed-over-quality process normally works fine for people who are happy to make the screens their teammates want them to make. That’s one difference between production designers and change agents.

My model ostracizes nobody. It presents 2 camps into which we already fall. Again, the people who tend to react most negatively to things that I write tend to see themselves in a part of my model or prediction, and they don’t like that part of the model or the prediction. So I would suggest that this is between you and you. How you see yourself. The path you took to where you are. This actually isn’t about me. It’s about you and where you would sort yourself based on my definitions and prediction.

Use this opportunity to have some frank conversations with yourself about your career and how you approach CX and UX work. Who you hire and what you train them. Whether quality or speed is more important (since only one can be top priority). Whether you inspire teams to be problem finders before they are guessing at solutions. Whether you let Engineering control research and design, or if you fight for our autonomy. Whether you sell us out to workshops and “everybody can design.” I have no idea what you do or don’t do, and I’m not asking. This is definitely between you and you, and I just happen to be the catalyst.

If you don’t like your own self-reflection, do something about it other than trying to pin tones and conclusions on me that I’ve never said. If you like your own self-reflection, then good. You’re where you want to be.

Thanks and good luck.