Fail a lot, learn from mistakes, and organize stuff in a way that suits you.
Can't find "inspiration" just copy a known design that works well and back it up with testing. Everyone in this field has stood on the shoulders of giants to get the work done. I constantly tell people not to re-invent the wheel.
If you had to reach for one book, make it "The User Experience Team of One" by Leah Buley.
Stay away from Twitter and Medium as sources of wisdom...it is mostly drivel from people trying to get a following instead of furthering their craft.
Yes, there's plenty of great reads, e.g., Storytelling with Data.
At a high-level, I emphasize the following to my direct reports & clients:
I listened to this on audiobook, https://www.amazon.com/Soft-Skills-software-developers-manual/dp/1617292397
I thought it was pretty decent. If you are just awkward, force yourself to socialize more, it's basically something you can just practice. If it's not clicking and you're just a weirdo (no judgment, weirdo's are cool) I don't really know any resources on how to be less awkward, but I'm sure they are out there
I prefer Mid-Size companies because of 3 reasons:
Opportunity: Mid-Size companies put you in a unique frame where you are given sufficient space to experiment while also providing significant support. The piece that you work on has a sizeable impact and your work is recognized and helps you grow.
Career Stage: I have just started as an APM, and need to learn a lot while also earning enough to support my family. Mid-Size companies give you both: learning and earning.
Fluidity: It's a fine balance between chaos and a bureaucratic order. So, you get to define a lot of things, and do things your own way.
Basically, all the factors can be bucketed in two:
1: What do you want?
2. At what career stage you are?
Product Leadership: How Top Product Managers Launch Awesome Products and Build Successful Teams can help you in answering these two questions for yourself.
Recomendo esse livro e esse livro.
Não vão fazer você ganhar dinheiro, mas vão te ajudar a não perder.
General piece of advice on your role: buy "The User Experience Team of One" right now, very applicable for your situation. Great advice on small steps you can take when you don't have the time/budget/scope for full blown research, testing, etc.
https://smile.amazon.com/User-Experience-Team-One-Research/dp/1933820187/
It does, but a huge chunk of organizations have a User Experience Team of One. Hard to become an expert collaborator when organizations tend to silo designers, too.
It's not luck, bro; it's dark magic! Call it what it is.
I thought only Pep was bitter because he hasn't won it since Barcelona, but turns out it's trickle down saltnomics in the City camp.
Directed by Robert B. Weide
You can't have googled very hard. The book, and it's accompanying workbook are classics used in many classes.
https://www.amazon.com/Storytelling-Data-Visualization-Business-Professionals/dp/1119002257
As far as the 3d graphs are concerned, practically any textbook on data viz will tell you to never use 3d except very rate, very specific circumstances.
In reality, there's only a handful of plot types you need to know and use: two types of barplots, scatter plots, histograms, box plots, line plots and maybe waterfall plots as well. Using rare and obscure plot types is counter-productive since it will take your viewer too long and too much effort to understand what's happening. Viz, on the other hand has to make information quick and easy to digest.
There are a lot of very technical viz textbooks but I'd recommend something like Storytelling With Data: https://www.amazon.com.au/Storytelling-Data-Visualization-Business-Professionals/dp/1119002257?ref_=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=5c7aab16-3417-4f0c-af20-494767b8c35d.
It's less technical bit still great and teaches a lot.
I really enjoyed Statistics for Data Science and Business Analysis because it's so entry level.
I would ask the folks in r/datanalysis for advice on formatting your resume. I'm a newbie like you. Just make sure there's a place on your resume for projects and include anything relevant.
My "flagship" projects were automations and building proficiency in Cognos Analytics. I also prepared example dashboards to show data reporting skills. Here's a great book on designing dashboards and communicating data.
Storytelling with Data is the best book I've read on this topic. I have about five currently in my personal library and this is the only one I recommend to coworkers anymore.
The process for people in your situation is generally called "feeding the beast."
I would advise you to work on a design strategy and a maturity model on how you can evolve out of this situation and to staff up a team of professionals.
In the meantime, check out: The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide
This is a great book on it. Used in college and still apply a lot from it today in my role. All about what gets the point across the fastest for your audience.
Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119002257/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_NE2EE7DM5GYRN065VPEW
This is a great book on it. Used in college and still apply a lot from it today in my role. All about what gets the point across the fastest for your audience.
Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119002257/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_NE2EE7DM5GYRN065VPEW
There’s an Orielly book titled Product Leadership that has good insights on leading product organizations at different stages:
Product Leadership: How Top Product Managers Launch Awesome Products and Build Successful Teams https://www.amazon.com/dp/1491960604/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_a_9DDH2DHY2V33TG99BM65
Do the extra colors actually add meaning to the charts?
People are quite bad at tracing categories by color in a complex chart, especially if they have to keep looking back and forth at a long legend. In almost all cases, you can simplify the chart to use only one or two colors (e.g. "our company" and "all competitors"), plus appropriate textual labels.
See "storytelling with data"by Knaflic for examples.
This the book the got me my fundamentals na hanggang ngayon inaapply ko pa. Try it. This is the Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Product-Leadership-Managers-Products-Successful/dp/1491960604
But if hindi mo pa afford, I think may "free" (ebook) naman online
I teach an undergrad and grad course in a business college after spending 25 years in industry. I believe in practical experience and less theoretical/math/programming for business students. While I have students use Tableau for the assignments and projects, this book has lots of great material to lecture on
Storytelling with Data: A Data... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119002257?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Don’t know of anyone who can help you, but Storytelling with data is a great book to learn from.
Robert Cialdini wrote about what i think you are describing as "authority" in relation to the term he coined called "compliance techniques." Counselors and other psychotherapists also have authority and a way to positively influence people. I included a link of where one can buy the book.
https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Practice-Robert-B-Cialdini/dp/0205609996
I recommend The Misbehavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence to cover fat tail distribution in markets.
Additionally I recommend Pricing the Future as a primer on how we ended up with the B-S option pricing model.
I´ve read his book on the (mis)behavior of markets. Wasn´t bad, but as expected a bit self-referential. Happy birthday !
Amazon - Soft Skills: The software developer's life manual
Publisher - Overview of chapters & free chapter downloads
Give it a look, especially section three about learning. The book goes over a lot of things that can possibly help you out. If you end up wanting to buy it, you can sign up for an audible account and get the audio version for free.
Copywriting is all based on psychology. You are gently, pushing all the trigger points that makes humans act in the manner which you want them to act. You are using words that brings out their inner desires and then you channel that desire into the products that you are trying to sell.
This book is a great book to read: https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Practice-Robert-B-Cialdini/dp/0205609996/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1O0SWRP4XCVJ7&keywords=influence+robert+cialdini&qid=1570820644&sprefix=influence%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-1
I would also read this timeless classic on the subject (you can get it used) - how to start and grow a law firm. https://www.amazon.com/Start-Practice-Career-American-Association/dp/1590312473/ref=asc_df_1590312473/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312186864233&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12525881901966854658&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hv...
So as someone who's been a visual designer for a while and just landed my first UX job I'm probably reasonably qualified to answer this.
The biggest thing to note is that it's a lot more involved than most expect it to be. There's lots of graphic designers who call themselves UX designers and they're just...not. Having experience making websites does not make one a UX designer.
As far getting started, just dig in. I found the courses at the Interaction Design Foundation really helpful (and affordable), and I also read everything I could find (both books and on articles on Medium). The User Experience Team of One is a great overview of the UX process and different approaches but there's lots of UX book lists out there that have some great resources. Software is a part of it as well, Sketch is pretty easy to pick up as is xD, and for prototyping InVision Studio is free for individuals.
Outside of that, start making stuff. I got a bit lucky and had a few UX related projects come up at a small software company, but you can create and showcase your own projects (there's lots of case studies on things like this out there).
One other thing to keep in mind is that UX design roles can vary widely. I'm not fully qualified to be a pure UX designer yet, but my new role is a hybrid of UI design and UX while other UX designers barely do any visual design.
Hope that helps, good luck!
I plug this constantly because it's really great:
https://www.amazon.com/User-Experience-Team-One-Research/dp/1933820187
This will answer a lot of your questions and it fits perfectly to your situation.
I've skimmed many of them, read only a few. I usually read a couple recommendations from the internet, and then I have maybe three or four books I might be interested in, and then from there I look at the foreword or introduction (which you can read on Amazon).
A couple weeks ago I picked up Soft Skills: The software developer's life manual and I'm liking it so far. I haven't read enough to really give an informed recommendation but you might check it out.