5 ways to grow your skills while looking for a UX design gig
By: Oksana Ivanova
Tags: Careers, Career Advice, User Experience, UX Design, Resources

5 ways to grow your skills while looking for a UX design gig

Let me guess. You have heard from a friend or read on the Internet about user experience. It shapes the world and makes things better. If done right, it’s a killer UX. If done wrong, it is a total flop.

It sounds like something you want to explore. And you also heard that it’s possible to do UX for a living. How cool is that?

You gear yourself up with Google and search how to break into UX. But what you find is it only works if you are a UX Designer or a researcher. There are other things, also, like Information Architect or a Usability Analyst. But God knows what they mean. The requirements for such jobs are over the top, and there’s no way to jump straight into it.

Ready? Let’s get started.

Let’s say that you’ve assessed all your choices and decided that UX Design looks doable. Now you need to put together a portfolio with a couple of cases. Then you can start applying to jobs.

If you choose to pursue this path, finding UX cases is not a monthly goal. On average, it takes from 8 months to a couple of years before you start getting replies. It means that while looking for this job, you will be losing precious time of doing UX right now.

And what’s worse, it will make you a way less desirable candidate after all.

So we have two main objectives while you are pulling everything together.

To keep up with the pace of the industry that is changing and evolving. Be a desirable candidate in a couple of years.

How are you going to do it? Let’s see.

Get a full-time job in a UX-adjacent field.

And I need to explain what “UX-adjacent” means here. It’s a common belief that user experience is created and practiced by the design team or department.

If you have ever heard anybody asking, “When do we need to add UX to it?” I recommend running away. Fast.

In reality, the design team (even if they named a UX department) might have very little to do with actual user experience. Apart from putting together user interfaces.

There’s always somebody else who decides how things will look like.

And this “somebody” is someone who’s “doing UX” in the company. To understand who and how influences design decisions, you need to dig deeper into the organizational structure. The easiest way to represent a user is to jump into any customer-facing role.

Customer Support or Sales.

Stakeholders know that they have to listen to customer feedback. If stakeholders themselves do not talk to customers, who would they ask? Exactly! Those who face customers daily.

If you are technical enough, you can get a role in technical (customer) support or quality assurance. You will see the ins and outs of the product, how it works, and how people interact with it. You will be the closes person to the real end-user. And this is what you need to see UX from the inside out.

Sales, especially in big companies, can also influence design decisions. In these companies, you might likely to hear:

Salesperson: “I have a very high paying prospect, but they will not close the deal if we do not have X.” Tech lead: “But it’s very complicated. We do not have anything in the system that supports their request.” C-level person: “How big is the deal?” Salesperson: “About $25k monthly.” C-level person: “Well, I guess we will have to find the resources then.”

If you have an aspiration for sales, you can try it while making your way into UX Design.

Marketing.

If you do not like the idea of tech support and direct sales, marketing is also an option. For example, if you write a copy for newsletters or any other communication for end-users.

Marketing is a place where all the data about user behavior stores. If you want to stand on the confluence of business and user needs, get a job in marketing. Also, it’s usually the team with the most budget possible.

These guys are also open to experiments because they A/B test their communication often.

But why do I need to do this?

Why is it a good idea to go with a UX-adjacent role while you are making your way into the industry?

You will not starve or hope for some random freelance projects and clients to pay your bills. It’s difficult to focus on some glorious future of being a UX Designer while you have no idea how to pay your rent. You get the experience and taste of the industry. And you are not wearing your socks off trying to provide for yourself. You can always stay and establish yourself further if it does not work out with a UX Designer role. Or you will not like being a UX Designer.

Also, the UX-adjacent fields are less competitive. You can get an entry-level job without any experience whatsoever.

Still doubtful?

If for some reason, you do not want to work in tech in the UX-adjacent field, any other customer-facing roles will do. You can do whatever you find comfortable while searching for your place in the UX field. If you know how to turn your experience to your benefit.

Enroll (in most cases, for free) in online courses about UX design.

This one looks like a simple one. There are so many different courses on UX everywhere!

Most of the UX courses are usually about tools that you need to learn or master as a designer. Figma, Webflow, Adobe XD, Framer, Axure, you name it. These courses are very technical and will tell you a lot about how to do this job. But not why.

Understanding why this industry is interesting for you is important. The how will come after, once you get your “why.”

If you are not planning to execute UI yourself, find courses that cover only user experience. And do not offer a mixture of so-called UI/UX skills with lots of visuals.

Here are a few that I found useful. They do not feed you with any tool and focus on the essence of user experience.

There’s many more of that kind, watch closely!

Start following current design trends and technology news. But avoid scrolling through the Dirbbble gallery.

You have to remember that UI is not UX. But since you are aiming for a UX Designer position, you have to know the latest trends. Conventions always come in handy, so always keep them in mind.

It does not mean that you should create UIs from scratch. But you have to know they exist, and you have to know what they are used for.

The same goes for any technology news on anything new and emerging. Anything that’s going to “disrupt” how people go about their lives or behave.

Not being aware of these trends will make it harder for you to stay relevant to the industry.

Get to know people in the industry and see what they do and care about.

Yes, even if you are an introvert.

And, to be honest, it does not matter whether you are an introvert or an extrovert. You have to get yourself out and find people you like and want to follow.

If you do not want to interfere with people’s lives, follow them. Why not? After all, it’s more for your good than for theirs. Yet, I still recommend interacting with these people and leaving comments once in a while.

Find people on Twitter, LinkedIn, read their blogs, subscribe to their newsletter. Note that it’s essential to follow individuals, not some design agencies.

It will help you understand how diverse the field is and how many different voices exist and practice UX.

Be prepared to live with impostor syndrome.

And I am serious.

You will feel once in a while, that you are not doing UX. Or that you have no right to do UX. Or if you are doing it, you are doing it wrong. That’s alright. That’s a part of doing UX the way everyone does it.

If you do UX and do not have the imposter syndrome, you are doing it wrong and do not even know about it.

So, now what?

Once you start putting together your portfolio and applying to jobs, do not be afraid to get a rejection. At least it means that they saw you. That the company at least skimmed through your CV or portfolio. And it means that you need to keep doing it.

The advantage of getting into UX this way is it gives you a better perspective on the options available. It also does not label you as a UX Designer, which you might not even like after all.

Doing, practicing, and preaching UX is not a one-person or one-department responsibility. It’s a cross-functional effort of many teams and individuals.

And if you realize that UX Design is not something you are into, you can find another path for yourself. You will know a way of doing UX without any crazy demands of being a design unicorn.