10 Terms You Need to Get Used to When You’re New to Tech Industry
By: Eva V.
Tags: Creativity, Visual Design, UX, Design, Technology

1. Fintech

Fintech is the combination of the words “financial” and “technology.” It is about finance and technology coming together to offer innovative solutions to businesses.

Since the internet and smartphone revolution, financial technology has grown explosively. Fintech relates to various financial activities like money transfers, managing your investments, use, and development of cryptocurrencies, etc.

2. Big Data

Big Data refers to a huge volume of data that accumulated in a short time. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube receive a massive volume of data daily. They boost their sales by analyzing this information.

Oxford dictionary says Big data is “extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions.”

3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI is the technology that mimics human intelligence. It’s the copycat of human behavior. AI can learn and self-correct from experiences and adjust to new inputs based on huge inputs of data.

3 steps to make predictions in AI. Source: Singularity University

4. Internet of Things (IoT)

Internet of Things refers to the devices connected through the internet so that they can talk to one another. Like they can start, stop, or control each other without human interaction. A good example would be a vacuum cleaning Roomba in your home that you can control with your smartphone from your office.

Examples of IoT. Source: Dynamiccio.com.

5. Blockchain

Blockchain is a database where it stores information in blocks and chained it together. When new data is entered into a fresh block, it will be chained onto the previous block, creating a chronological order. You can't change any given block without changing all subsequent blocks. To simply put, blockchain is an append-only ledger. This new network helps decentralize trade and allows for more peer-to-peer transactions like the picture shown below.

6. User Experience (UX)

UX is the way a user interacts and feels when interacting with the product. UX designers study and test how users feel about a product or system. They consider everything related to user experiences. Things like the ease of use, utility, comfort, and efficiency in task performance, etc.

Don Norman on the term “UX.” Source: Nielson Norman group, 2016.

7. User Interface (UI)

UI is how a product’s design is laid out. It is more about visual elements. Like where the buttons are, how big the fonts are, and how menus are organized are UI elements. Remember, UX is how you feel about using a product? So, for example, the new look of Instagram involves a change to UI, and the way you feel about it is the UX.

User experience VS. user interface. Source: UI Design, Upslide.net.

8. Front-end

Frontend and backend are two of the most used terms in the tech industry. Front-End development deals with the details of your website or app that the users see and interact with. This includes images, navigation menus, buttons, etc.

9. Back-end

Back-End development deals with the side that is hidden from the users. It includes complex tasks like data saving and organizing. The backend communicates with the front-end to make sure that the web is working properly. If a user fills a form in your website, the back-end processes it and returns the relevant information displayed on the screen.

10. A/B testing

A/B testing is a controlled experiment for comparing two versions of the design. The goal is to identify which one is more successful. It is a way of testing the designers’ hypotheses. A/B testing allows them to confirm whether the hypotheses will work out well or not. It helps you with making the right decisions.