I am considering a career change into UX/UI design.

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Anonymous

02/19/21 at 8:26PM UTC

I am considering a career change into UX/UI design.

I'm still in the research phase and would love to know about your thoughts and experiences. I have a few questions like... - What boot camps or programs do you recommend? - How long did it take for your career to solidify? - What is the work/life balance like? - How are the people and general work culture in this industry? - What was your experience with different types of work, from freelance and startups to large corporations? From mobile design to websites? - I've also heard you're not expected to know everything in the UX/UI design process and can be more specialized in areas like coding, research, or design. Is this true? - How competitive do you find the market nowadays? - What are the qualities that make a good UX/UI designer? - And anything else you believe is worth sharing! Thanks for all your help! Feel free to ask me questions, too.

8 Comments

Anonymous

02/20/21 at 2:56AM UTC

Congratulations on the career change! What is your background in?

1 Reply

Anonymous

02/22/21 at 9:10PM UTC

Thanks! My background is mostly in editorial with some social media marketing experience.

Barb Hansen

3.33k

Ask me anything about Startups

02/20/21 at 11:32PM UTC

I can't answer all of your questions but I can provide some color commentary from a hiring manager. I have hired plenty of UI and UX employees and contractors over the years so I'll answer the questions that I can. 1. What boot camps or programs do you recommend? No matter what program you take, make sure that you build out a great looking portfolio (beyond what you do for school) and get exposed to as many UI/UX programs and support programs that you can. You don't need to be hired somewhere to get build out your portfolio - you have the whole internet to do "UI redesigns" You don't need money to get experience/exposure to different software. Download demos. Watch youtube videos. As a hiring manager with years of experience working with UI/UX teams and guerilla'ing my way through UI and UX work when we didn't have money to hire a UI/UIX person, I want a UI/UX person who is flexible to work within our tech stack and not someone who says "i don't like software XYZ" or "I only use software ABC" 2. What is the work/life balance like? For the people that I hire, their work-life balance is fine. I work in startup land, but I don't overwork people. I'll be interested to hear from others on that subject. 3. How are the people and general work culture in this industry? I think the answer to this question is variable by industry and by boss. UI/UX people are hired in many industries but mostly the tech industry. 90% of my experience as a woman in tech has been pretty good but I have been blessed to work for some very supportive CEOs so my first few years in startup gave me a lot of confidence to stand on when I worked for a less-than-stellar boss. 4. I've also heard you're not expected to know everything in the UX/UI design process and can be more specialized in areas like coding, research, or design. Is this true? I would never hire someone who told me they knew everything about UX and UI. Those topics although put together as in a job category, they can be very specialized, and therefore quite complex. Can you do both? absolutely. Can you be good at both? absolutely. Can you know everything about either? I don't think so. You can be an excellent UX/UI person and still not know "everything" (because both areas are growing every day) I tend to hire UI people to do UI work and UX people to do UX work, but I'm working on large complex products, but that's just my experience. 4. What are the qualities that make a good UX/UI designer? The ability to listen, and the desire to continuously learn.

1 Reply

Anonymous

02/22/21 at 9:12PM UTC

This is so comprehensive and helpful! Thank you so much. It's nice to hear that you've had positive experiences in the tech field, as well.

Erika Spoden

UX Researcher & Writer

02/23/21 at 10:43PM UTC

As someone who transitioned into UX a few years ago, I would strongly encourage making the transition. The work is nearly always interesting, the pay is competitive, you can work from anywhere(even before COVID!) and the people you get to work with in terms of the diversity of backgrounds is unparalleled. Given your background in editorial work, I would suggest looking for programs that offer some classes in UX Writing (such as SVC and Flatiron, I believe) which is the next up and coming discipline within UX, not least because many people (as you know) are terrible at it or afraid to do it. Then when you go to apply for jobs, punch up that side of your resume. I mention pushing the editorial side of your skills because the caveat I would offer is that while UX has exploded and there are a lot of jobs, it will probably take you a very long time to become a full time UX designer if you haven’t worked as a designer in any capacity previously or don’t have a master’s degree in a UX discipline. The people I knew from my boot camp (General Assembly- highly recommend) who were quickest to find work were those who had either worked in tech, were graphic designers, etc. so while you build design skills in a boot camp, just keep in mind that best case scenario is that you enter a role primarily doing copy/editorial and then gradually transition into a design role. Happy to answer any other questions you might have/ best of luck! I promise you’ll get into it and never look back :)

1 Reply

Anonymous

02/24/21 at 3:43PM UTC

Great, thank you so much for this information and practical advice! What do you find most interesting about the work? How is the copy/editorial side of UX design?

1 Reply

Erika Spoden

UX Researcher & Writer

02/24/21 at 7:31PM UTC

The most interesting thing about the work is that you get to work with people who will be wonderfully honest about products and that they will help you to see given products in ways you never imagined. It requires a lot of creativity on your part to meet these demands as well as a capacity to continually push yourself to learn more about similar products, expand your design capabilities, etc. And also most days are different and even the trickiest customers will push you in compelling ways...most of the time. The copy side of things is basically about streamlining website or app copy, so using words to direct people as quickly as possible using text on buttons, navigation, and creating calls to action that are succinct and don’t leave users confused. This could be as simple as removing excessive adjectives or text fields or changing the words on a button from ‘Sign up here’ to ‘Register’.

1 Reply

Anonymous

02/26/21 at 3:21PM UTC

Thank you so much! This is all really helpful information. I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know about the ups and downs and details of the business!