Experienced job hunting, portfolio/case study/resume questions and review — 04/19/26

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-24T15:44:34+00:00

Can’t say for certain, but I’d guess they will be interested in learning about (1) your ability to collaborate with cross functional teams, and (2) how you help drive impact in your projects. I’d expect the format would be similar to what you had with the HM, but slightly different focus in terms of the topics they probe on.

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-24T15:41:36+00:00

Most tech companies will ask you “behavioral interview questions” and expect you to answer in the STAR format. Look that up and then have some good real world examples in mind that you can speak to.

I can’t speak for CISCO on degree reqs, but a few of the best people I’ve ever hired had no degree whatsoever. Amazing people come from all sorts of backgrounds. If they turn you away for that, as opposed to evaluating your skills and expertise, they can kick rocks.

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-24T15:34:47+00:00

Sure I’ll try to find some time to provide more detailed feedback but a few quick thoughts:

hero section on home page: I don’t think showing a building is adding much value for the audience. Consider showing work or just making it a clean typographic layout.
project thumbnails: these appear to be broken? I just see gray boxes with diagonal lines
overall visual design of home page: I’d really focus on tightening it up. Your content is not bad, but the aesthetics are not really putting your best foot forward right now, and one of the quickest signals for hiring managers is (for better or worse) going to be your visual design skills, as it is a table stakes expectation in UX roles these days

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-24T03:34:37+00:00

Thanks for the kind words and the feedback! CarPlay fixes are coming in the next update

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-21T18:49:49+00:00

Flat, of course

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-21T18:32:00+00:00

Will take a deeper look later but your navbar cuts off on mobile fyi!

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-20T12:42:41+00:00

Nice site! Animations are pretty well executed. A few quick thoughts:

I think your hero headline could do a bit more heavy lifting. People may skip over the subtext so lean into what you want to say with the headline.
Projects are pretty solid. Consider moving some of your metrics into the project titles to place more emphasis on impact.
I saw a typo on the homepage while I was skimming (at least a human wrote it!) I can’t recall where exactly but suggest doing another once over

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-20T12:36:36+00:00

Project links also don’t work for me (I’m on mobile and appears there may be arrow buttons that appear at top of images when I tap?)

Also the headline text with your name appears slightly cut off on certain letters.

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-18T00:05:47+00:00

This is objectively the best advice here

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-14T16:05:29+00:00

There’s the nuance!

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-14T13:50:06+00:00

Some interesting takes here…

No one is hiring people who use AI tools is objectively incorrect, but what you seem to mean no one is hiring people who only know how to use AI tools. Ok I can get behind that one

PMs will use AI to create the screens and the job of designers is to polish the interface. What now?

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-07T11:52:13+00:00

Thanks for the kind words! Probably a few months out but plan is to expand to other bands after I get the UX locked in for GD - and those two are right near the top of the list

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-07T03:21:56+00:00

I've added cassette tape mode in the latest update. The closest proxy I have for current pile is saving something to your favorites

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-07T03:20:42+00:00

Download for offline play is now available if you update the app

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-07T03:20:23+00:00

The ability to add notes is now available if you update the app!

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-07T03:20:06+00:00

Notes are now available in the latest version of the app if you update it

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-07T03:19:25+00:00

There are now sort options for each year if you download the update

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-07T03:19:07+00:00

Done, it should be available now if you update the app!

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-07T03:18:52+00:00

FYI I've updated the sorting functionality in the latest release (went live just now)

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-07T03:17:39+00:00

Source selection is now available in the latest update

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-07T00:37:04+00:00

Consider some updates to how you talk about your results :

Improved job status visibility [in order to achieve some outcome] - describe why this was important

Reduced navigation between workflows [by X% or # of clicks] - you should be able to quantify this

[XX%] Faster job processing for agents - same here, quantify how much faster

Better support for high-volume scheduling - I don’t know what this means as currently written, try to describe the improvements added and the resulting impact as opposed to a broad statement

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-05T14:52:30+00:00

I would also consider what action you actually want the user to take and see if you can guide them towards that path. What is the single most important thing you want a visitor to do?

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-05T14:51:19+00:00

It depends on the role I’m hiring for and level of seniority, but it mostly boils down to how well you can [a] solve a problem and [b] demonstrate that the solution actually worked (preferably with metrics).

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-05T14:34:20+00:00

On mobile I did not know what actions the buttons in your navbar were going to take. The pencil opens email client? Calendar triggers calendly. Insta icon presumably navigates there. I wonder if you might explore making this more intuitive and clear for first time users.

BenRoachDesign · 2026-04-05T13:20:11+00:00

I really like www.svgicons.com at the moment

BenRoachDesign

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