Questions for Professionals

[mossy perch]

My career started at a young age when I first learned to use a computer around age 4 and started making banners for birthday parties. I've come a long way from that point and there's been many triumphs and tribulations along the way. I'd be more than happy to sit down and talk about it at length. My career as a UX designer started when I was going to design school while working a full time job as an IT Support Manager and met my mentor Jaime Levy who pulled me into her world of UX. That was in 2009.

Networking has been everything. It's what gives me inspiration and joy. From meeting Jaime, to helping her with workshops, to leading my own workshops, to teaching undergrad at UCI, to working at JPL... all steps taken where networking helped guide me and keep me motivated.

Keep the trends on the periphery of your mind. It's important to know what is going on but don't obsess over keeping up with it. Those trends change and the best skill you can get early on is being adaptable and open to suggestions. Take in what people say and what they do and find a way to incorporate it into what you do and who you are. Be kind to yourself. Don't make sweeping assumptions about the world. People are complex and chaotic but also your greatest source of wisdom and inspiration. Be willing to learn from others mistakes, be kind to yourself when you make your own, figure out how to incrementally do better than the last time.

Listening. Like really being able to listen, digest, analyze, and synthesize. It is the ultimate source of creativity if you can transform all you sense around you and pour it into your work. Be kind and honest to others who are the same to you. Be open and willing to take criticism but use it rather than letting it consume you. One persons opinion is just that, a single data point. Take in as much data as you can and use it to assist you in making decisions.

My father told me there's three things to success.

1. Be there
2. Be there and on time
3. Be there, on time, and prepared.

It's so simple but I gotta tell you it is a universal truth for any job.

[restive yacht]

Planting a note here that I want to come back to this. I have to call it a night rn.

Although times have changed a lot since I started. I’ll still do what I can!

[muted reef]

Thank you! I appreciate the time you took for this and sharing what you know. 😊

Edit: Sorry, I apparently need to ask one of my own questions and to ask what your title is.

My question is: How have you navigated the tough job market climate ?

• What is/was your title?

[mossy perch]

Official title is Senior Lead User Experience Designer though I operate more like a Principal Designer

I'm not navigating it well. Struggling to be honest to find my place in it. I'm working through the Never Search Alone book and have become a moderator for a job search council. It's giving me more hope. I'm also still employed at the moment so I'm just thankful to be able to contribute meaningful work and grateful to be able to work.

[muted reef]

Beautiful, honest but still optimistic, thank you!

[restive yacht]

Current title
AI UX Engineer

How I got started
I was always designing things when I was a kid. I made stuff both in print and on the web… right when the web was brand new. In college, I got into magazine design and did some award winning work there, so I wanted to translate that to the web.

By the time I graduated, I posted my resume to monster.com and a local startup just cold-emailed me to interview. They wanted a unicorn who could do design, HTML/CSS, and Flash—because they had just lost a guy who actually did all of those things so he could go to art school and get stronger at design. I did two of those three, and one other guy also did two of those three, so we actually both got hired. The previous guy was badly overworked anyway. 😂

How has networking helped me develop my career
Here’s the thing—being a solo designer at a startup is an incredibly lonely experience. Every day you go to an office full of people where nobody understands you, or why things that matter to you matter.

Around 7 years into my career, I felt lost. Empty. Unappreciated. Stagnant. At the after party for a conference (that I went to because I was part of the volunteer team that put it together… power networking move but also great way to make memories), one of the presenters asked me how much time I spend with other people who love the same thing I do. My answer was “none.” So he told me, “You need to fix that. If you don’t, it will slowly kill you.”

Shortly after that, a local chapter of IxDA started up, and I started attending. A year later, it needed new leaders, so I stepped up. Not only did I feel less alone, but I just plain actively learned more about what we do by being around other people who care as much as I do, but aren’t in exactly the same spaces as I am.

Part two coming soon!

How has networking helped me develop my career

In simpler times, just meeting someone in a chatroom and realizing we both have the same quirky niche skill set was enough for me to get referred to an opening, which I landed.

These days? I have such mixed feelings about my network. After three years in job search mode, a lot of people I felt close to became distant. I’m meeting new people, but not letting anyone close like I used to.

But I still feel like the time I spend with other designers is time I spend with people who get me. But they aren’t the safety net I once thought.

What advice would I give for someone starting out in my field?

Oh gosh. If you live in one of the more economically developed economies that’s nearshoring so much of the work… maybe don’t right now. Maybe try again if the labor market in your nation/region gets better. If I had other professional skills, I would give them serious consideration right now.

Now, if you are absolutely dead set on designing software, my advice is: The industry won’t wait for someone else to give you experience first. It expects you to take the initiative and build your own experience first. And the thing is, designing is actually the act of making something from nothing. You have the power.

But also consider industrial design—which is where honestly all the best ideas in UX came from anyway. I personally have a fantasy of pivoting to interior design, which still combines elements of creativity, functionality, and listening to what the real problem your clients need help with rather than leading with your genius taste.

What are the skills and knowledge to be successful in my field
I think for Product Design, you need visual craft (typography, color theory, brand / visual communication theory, composition, etc), an understanding of cognitive science, information architecture, UX heuristics, interaction design, and “systems thinking” (aka understanding how the backend works). Some companies also want designers to be seasons user researchers—and I have some FOMO here.

For a UX Engineer: You need to have both an inner-engineer and inner-designer who live in your head. UI code is honestly where typography, spacing, and color, matter so much more (even though almost no one is smart enough to hire for it). I don’t recommend UX Engineering 🫠

What is the best career advice or feedback you have ever received?

Understand all of the steps between what happens at your desk and the other steps that eventually lead to something of value being delivered to the customer. Designers too often focus on the mockup as if that’s where our worth comes from. But the company’s worth comes from solving customer problems. Your designs need to set up cross-functional teammates to carry that torch after the design leaves your desk.

How have I navigated the tough job market
I was honestly preparing to give up my housing this year after 2.5 years of unemployment/underemployment. What I’ve come to learn is:

1. I’ve been typecast as a UX Engineer.
2. UX Engineer is one of the most rapidly declining roles in UX, as of mid-2024 (although it’s plausible that trend has shifted since Config 2024)

My network ghosted me.

New connections can’t help because they haven’t worked with me.

I’ve only ever worked on really small teams so almost no one can speak to the quality of my work or what I’m like to work with.

My career isn’t a formal, linearly structured career, but HR professionals have spread it around to each other that looking for this is what makes them good at their job.

How I finally landed work: A friend connected me with a recruiter at a consulting company she thought highly of. She told him that she thought highly of me. The recruiter tried to get me into consideration for roles for almost a year, but was consistently shut down because I’m not enough of a pure designer or pure engineer.

I’m literally trying to go into business for myself at that point, but finding it’s stupid hard to start a consulting business without a deep bench of past coworkers.

Just before I was ready to give up permanently, the recruiter called me up about a hybrid role. I interviewed, and managed to beat 8 other candidates—despite doing virtually no new interview prep, because so much of what they were looking for simply was just who I am. (I am a very technical designer who is also super obsessed with understanding what new tech is good for vs not good for, and been that for 15+ years, always adapting to change.)

So. I don’t know. I wish I had answers about how to take control of one’s own job search. I don’t. I have no idea how I’m going to land my next role after my current contract ends, but I have no other job-ready professional skills, either.

Aaaaannnnyyywwaaaaaayyy this was all a big downer.

I have no interest in gatekeeping—I super, super hate gatekeeping. But this is all stupid hard rn, and I’ve had to confront that success isn’t always viable. I just don’t want to see good people get hurt or worse.

If you have any follow-up questions, I’m more than happy to answer. I enjoy your presence in this Discord Server, I relate to a lot of what you talk about, and I want you to find your way to a place where you can be happy.

So, really, AMA!

[muted reef]

Thank you for your time and sharing your experiences and thoughts.

I don't think you were a downer, I see it as you are just being transparent.

I prefer the blunt truth over rosy-colored nonsense any day.

I appreciate that you shared about how you originally were not much of a social person until later on.

That stood out to me because that 1000% was how I used to be last year....very concerned about my own work, my own growth

As time goes on, I am continuing to build on networking and actually making friends and connections in this industry and in related industries.

I'm glad Ive made that choice because even from what Voltagein described....the network seems to be a solid thing to have even in times of struggle.

I'm happy that someone called you because you obviously know and love your craft.