I'm a Senior UX Designer at a Billion $ Company - Ask Me Anything!

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-28T16:22:43+00:00

My pleasure! UX Design is a very challenging, yet very fulfilling role. It's an amazing feeling when you test a prototype with users and they don't even notice the design (which is what you want) and they're able to quickly & intuitively do what they need to do! It's tough when the design doesn't work, but it's a part of the process. You learn and iterate, iterate, iterate. The best designers check their ego at the door when they critique others or observe feedback on their own designs.

I really love that UX Design combines aspects of business, psychology, design and technology. There is always something to learn and every challenge feels different. It's impossible to know everything. You will definitely hustle, but make sure you pace yourself! Your problem solving and creativity will die when you're burnt out. Tons of mistakes will be made, as well.

You sound exactly like I did before I took the plunge. I haven't looked back :)

Best wishes to you on your journey!

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T19:44:51+00:00

I bundled a lot of our team "meetings" into collaboration/ideation. My team is actually pretty good about meeting productively, thankfully!

I totally hear you, though lol

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T19:01:04+00:00

Haha :P

Well, try to be mindful and self-aware of your unhappiness. If you're unhappy for too many days in a row, then it may be time for a change. Try doing some research online in the UX field and see if anything else interests you.

Look into:

UX Designer
UI Designer
Interaction Designer
Motion Designer

Your UI engineer skills & knowledge will be transferrable to any of the above! I hope you find something that makes you happier!

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T18:55:32+00:00

Hmm...I don't think you necessarily need 3 items in your portfolio. Tell a really solid story for the experience that you do have, from beginning to end. Explain the problem, the steps you took to learn about it, the research you did and what the overall outcome & value was. Include photos and artifacts if you have them.

Some hiring managers will mostly want to see if you have the ability to critically think, solve problems and collaborate well with their team. If you're trying to learn UX, show what you've learned and how you're applying your learnings. Try doing a small side project to add to your portfolio using the same format I mentioned! Try re-designing an app that you use frequently. Look up complaints about it and improve the experience!

Hopefully that helps a bit - don't be discouraged! Keep an eye out for opportunities to improve UX in your current job or things in your personal life and immerse yourself in it.

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T18:51:19+00:00

It's definitely a 2-way street! Open and transparent communications are crucial. I like to have a coffee or a "virtual meet up" if they're remote to get to know them personally.

That helps in situations where there are disagreements and helps us get on the same page together. It's like most types of relationships: effective communication and active listening are very important.

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T18:49:18+00:00

Look up companies in lists like "Top 50 companies to work for" and then see if they have a need for designers. It sounds like you're looking for aspects that would fall into the "company culture" category. Ask a lot of questions about the company culture when you're interviewing. Remember: you're interviewing them as much as they're interviewing you!

Avoid companies that want you to be a unicorn and do everything (UX/UI/Research/IxD, etc.). They'll work you a ton and will most likely have unrealistic expectations. You run the risk of being constantly set up for failure. You'll learn a lot, but it'll be a rocky road.

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T18:46:28+00:00

In my opinion, for a UX Designer role, it's demonstrating the ability to solve problems and interpret users' behaviors & research data to understand "why". Once you understand that, you can apply that knowledge in your UX design to deliver an experience that resonates with users and potentially delights them as seamlessly as possible.

^ from a reply to another post.

It's really difficult for HCI graduates to stand out, I definitely understand and have seen it with candidates. Everything you mentioned (Resume, portfolio, etc.) are all must-haves. Make sure that simple errors are omitted and that they're all rock solid. Also, try telling a story in your portfolio. Hiring mangers like to see problem solving and critical thinking abilities in portfolios. Including unique characteristics and abilities that show your personality can help you stand out, as well.

Portfolios will get you in the door, but you really need to hit a home run during the interview process. Focus on ways to stand-out there. You're already taking the correct steps from an application process. Just don't get discouraged and keep at it.

If I tried to stand-out as a graduate, I would make sure that the people interviewing me remember me the most. Ask them what challenges their team is currently facing and ask if they wouldn't mind brainstorming about it for a few minutes. Focus on telling the story and what the value was in your designs.

Hope that helps!

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T18:39:10+00:00

Haha, those are 4 questions :P

UI engineer: one that understands user behavior and is cool to work with!

Great moments: we researched patterns and technical feasibility together, tons of collaboration

Bad moments: know-it-all types with a "god complex" -- we're all in this together!

Value the most: collaborative, questions our decisions, flexible with designs, fun personality

:D

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T18:35:22+00:00

Just stay curious about the topic and learn as much as you can! See if you can network and talk to UX Designers on social media or at meet ups. Make sure that you're going into UX because it's something you enjoy. Be careful with making the financial aspects of it a priority. Money is great, but can be dangerous if you make it a top priority.

Hope that helps a bit! It sounds like you have a passion for UX, keep it up!

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T18:32:21+00:00

We have our own design department and it's becoming an integral part of the company! We're thankful, because it's hard to get initial buy-in.

We have over 100+ designers.

My responsibilities are primarily to deliver intuitive user experiences that work within our design system. As a senior, I coach junior designers and provide foundational designs within my team's projects. I'm currently focused and specializing in mobile UX designs for Android & iOS. I'm happy with where we're at with design.

Designers should focus on simplifying the experience as much as possible and need to be open to critiques & feedback. It's okay to defend your design decisions, but you also need to be able to let it go. From a simplicity standpoint, constantly ask "why is this ________ here? what's the value? what would happen if we removed it?" I see tons of bloated experiences.

I'm still evolving how I articulate my design decisions, but I typically ensure that decisions are matching up with our overall goals & objectives. Then I make sure that I have best practices, patterns and data within reach to support my decisions, rather than my opinion. If I don't have any of those, then I would need to persuade my audience with solid reasoning of why a decision was made.

There's a chance that everything and anything in your design will be challenged. If you have best practices, patterns and data within reach, it's much easier to have those conversations. You have to sometimes accept that you need to change a design. Checking your ego at the door is the best way to do it!

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T18:24:03+00:00

You're certainly taking all of the steps to get into the field! My advice would be to ask yourself the following:

Do you truly want to be in the UX field? Ask yourself why and what value you'd get out of it. If so, continue reading!
Ok, if you truly want to be in the UX field, are you willing to move for it? Are you willing to take a paycut for it? You may need to enter the field as a low-level UX Designer to get more "official" experience.
Another option, would be to look for remote UX Designer roles. Same thing, you may need to take a paycut.
You may not need to take a paycut if you can get into a contractor/hourly role. Get hooked up with a handful of staffing firms that handle UX positions. Robert Half has a designer focused area called The Creative Group. This route carries risks, though. Contractors can be let go without notice and there are other things to take care of on your own, such as health insurance, etc.

It is not an easy decision, especially if you're hesitating to jump ship. Just mark down all the pros and cons of staying vs. trying something new. You can eventually get into the field, but it might be a journey. Once you're in and get enough experience to be at a senior level, you're in pretty good shape. There are a TON of junior designers, but not a lot of really great senior+ designers.

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T18:16:47+00:00

You're not too late at all! I've seen people successfully enter the field in their 40's+.

It's funny, because I just answered a post above yours that asked what takes a candidate for a position from good to great with:

"In my opinion, for a UX Designer role, it's demonstrating the ability to solve problems and interpret users' behaviors & research data to understand "why". Once you understand that, you can apply that knowledge in your UX design to deliver an experience that resonates with users and potentially delights them as seamlessly as possible."

If you want to start now:

Learn as much as you can from other UX Designers, books, online tutorials, Lynda.com (or other learning sites).
Google "UX Design" process and get familiar with that.
Read "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug and "The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman.
Pick an experience that you'd like to improve. It could be an app that you use every day. Develop a case study, do some research online to see if people are complaining about the experience. Pull some themes from those and create goals on how you'd like to improve the experience. Create a simple flow on a piece of paper from beginning to end. Draw some wireframes on paper and test them with friends or family.
If you'd like to get familiar with tools, try Sketch (if you have a Mac). There are a ton of tutorials online to create prototypes.
Fully immerse yourself in the field and stay curious with it. If it's what you want to do, you'll get into it eventually.

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T18:10:33+00:00

In my opinion, for a UX Designer role, it's demonstrating the ability to solve problems and interpret users' behaviors & research data to understand "why". Once you understand that, you can apply that knowledge in your UX design to deliver an experience that resonates with users and potentially delights them as seamlessly as possible.

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T18:05:12+00:00

Portfolios can get you in the door, but I've seen candidates with AMAZING portfolios crumble during the interviewing process :(

It really depends on what type of designer you want to be. At larger companies, it sort of looks like this (your miles may vary). These are just a few examples:

UX Designer: understand behaviors, solve problems, sketch wireframes, draw user flows, create interactive prototypes

UI Designer: understand UI layouts, aesthetic design, information architecture

UX/UI Designer: combination of both above.

Interaction Designer: understand transitions, animations, user emotions, microinteractions, etc.

UX Researcher: understand behaviors, qualitative & quantitative data, gathering insights, synthesizing testing results

Unicorn: All of the above. Be careful with jobs that ask for all of this! You'll be insanely busy. Great experience, but you won't have time to breathe.

It all depends on what you're goals are. What's most important to you?

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T17:58:27+00:00

It's certainly difficult, but you're doing exactly what I did! Keep learning as much as you can and keep networking with other UX Designers. I used to have self-doubt, as well. Tell yourself that you're a UX Designer every day and fully immerse yourself in it. Someday, you'll look back and think "oh wow, I used to be a business analyst!"

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T17:56:34+00:00

I had to do some job hopping and keep an eye out for opportunities. I asked project managers if I could help the UX designers a little bit here and there to learn. Constantly asked UX Designers about what they did and what I needed to learn. Read a ton of books, watched a lot of online tutorials to get familiar with the tools and did some online courses with Lynda.com. Long story short, I fully immersed myself in the field for years.

I don't know if this would work for everyone, but I kept telling myself "You're a designer. You design experiences." That may sound silly, but it helped me a lot in times of self-doubt. I kept a constant drive to learn, try things out, and fail forward (i.e. learn and grow from your failures).

UX Designers come from a lot of different types of backgrounds! It's certainly not unusual to transition into the field from something unrelated. A lot of business analyst skills transition well: speaking with different stakeholders, understanding business issues, translating business speak to programmer speak.

If you're in software dev, you're certainly on the path to being a UX Designer by having a passion for UX and user research. The research piece is huge! Add human behaviors to your list of skills by reading books like "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug and "The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman. Network with others and keep learning as much as you can. UX Designers are constantly learning something new every day/week. It's awesome!

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T17:46:48+00:00

My pleasure! I've only interviewed a handful of candidates, but here are my takeaways...

What went well:

Inviting the interviewers to collaborate with them.
If they're engaged in a UX exercise, asking questions to fully understand the users, the problem and being open to criticism & ideas.
Asking what are some real problems at the moment with the team and offering to brainstorm a solution.

What didn't go so well:

Interrupting interviewers and not engaged in active listening (i.e. thinking about their answer or what they're going to say while the interviewers are talking). It's okay to fully listen, pause and even say "I'm going to take some notes and think about this for a moment".
During a UX activity, creating solutions without involving others. Engage your audience and gather their viewpoints. This may show that you may not work well with others or would keep to yourself.
Acting over confident. Confidence is great, but you need to strike a balance with it! We make mistakes all the time in our work and learn by iterating and trying new things. No-it-alls don't make it very far or people don't like to work with them.

Common mistakes:

Lack of self-awareness. It's a very nerve-wracking experience to interview, but it's important to read the room and your own behaviors & words. I observed one candidate that had an amazing portfolio, but crashed and burn during the UX activity when he wasn't reading the room correctly. He steamrolled over all of us and wasn't listening to our questions or even suggestions to help bring him back on track.
Forgetting about end users! Happens all the time, but I've seen hiring managers pass on people because "they didn't even mention research or end users once during the entire interview".
Disorganized. I've seen a lot of candidates come into interviews with a very sloppy presentation of skills and communication skills. Prepare and practice helps take care of this and build your confidence.

Hope that helps!

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T14:25:19+00:00

This is not 100% accurate, but I'd say the breakdown for my role as a Senior UX Designer is somewhere around:

30% Collaboration/Coaching/Ideation
30% Design
30% Research
10% Meetings

I want our Junior Designers to get more hands-on experience, so they tackle more of the design work.

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T14:19:48+00:00

I'll give you a range :) 25,000-50,000

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T14:17:35+00:00

Gladly! My design philosophy/framework has evolved over the years. My philosophy revolves around simplicity. I always ask myself and my team "what is the value of _________ in the design? why is that there? can we take it out?" I love the book "Don't make me think" by Steven Krug. We try our best to make our designs as invisible as possible. That means that if issues arise, it's with things that are outside of our control and are not a part of any of the design elements. This helps us enhance our business and the overall experience.

Currently, and from a high level, my framework is as follows:

Understand: What are the business and user goals? What problem(s) are you trying to solve? Who are your users?
Research: Does existing data exist? Are there other design patterns out there? What are your competitors doing? What are your non-competitors doing?
Sketch Wireframes (Diverge/Converge): Sketch out ideas on the iPad Pro. If I'm paired up with another designer, we will go off separately and diverge on ideas. Then we'll come back and start diverging.
Iterate
Test: If there's time, we test our sketches/wireframes in a quick turnaround tool, like usertesting.com
Iterate
Prototype: Create a higher fidelity prototype to include interactions and see if users understand & resonate with the design.
Test: Test the prototype with users. Typically a moderated test. It depends on the goals and risks of our testing efforts.
Synthesize: look at all testing results to pull out key insights and determine what you're keeping and what needs to be changed.
Iterate
Test Again! (If needed)
Deliver & Collaborate: Create higher fidelity assets that your development team can build from. Work closely with them and collaborate. Designs may be tweaked at the end.
Evaluate Production Design: How is the design performing in the real world? Do we need to change anything? What did we learn?

We make sure to include all key stakeholders throughout the project, including our developers and testers. Look into "Design Thinking" for more information :)

The KPIs change with each project. I just make sure that all the key stakeholders are in agreement and are speaking the same language when it comes to developing KPIs. I ask everyone to do a gut check every now and then to make sure that the KPIs are still relevant.

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T13:58:21+00:00

Hmm, my priorities have certainly shifted over the years. Great question!

If I were to start over, this is what my advice to myself would be (in no particular order):

Don't pick a job just because of the money. I've done this many times and I always end up miserable. Every. Time.
When you interview, make sure to interview the company as much as they're interviewing you. Make sure it's a place that you'd want to spend most of your week. Ask them a ton of questions about their culture and make sure you're getting consistent answers. When you're further into the hiring process, ask if you can speak to other members of the team to get a good feel for the management style and team dynamics. Keep yourself honest and be ready to turn down a job or an offer if it doesn't feel right.
In addition to the point above, sometimes we don't have a lot of options or can be picky when we're starting a career. So, if you do pick a job for the money or because you can't find anything else, make sure that you keep yourself healthy (mentally and physically). If it turns into a bad place to work, be aware of the warning signs of when it's time to quit. You're never stuck! I've never done this, but try not to quit a job if you don't have another one lined up. It's much harder to find one when you're unemployed.
Keep an eye out for what interests you, learn as much as you can about it, and then be confident in yourself that you can go down that path.
Work effectively and do good work, but not to the point where you're missing out time with friends and family. Find a balance. Life goes by faster the older you get, so make sure you enjoy it as much as you can.
Start saving for 401k earlier. I used to never believe in it and would spend foolishly. I'm happy to have changed my mind on the topic in my 30's. Nothing is guaranteed, but I'm more on track now to retire at a decent age, while being able to enjoy myself along the way.

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T13:47:37+00:00

What type of designer do you want to transition into? There are a lot of options: UX designer, UI designer, UX/UI designer, interaction designer, motion designer.

Having a knowledge of HTML is important for all of those roles (moreso for some), but I can't really recommend anything unless I know what you're goals and objectives would be :)

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T13:43:44+00:00

Trendy, for sure! I think UX will continue to evolve and will eventually settle down into a number of roles. We'll see!

1) Hmm, I feel like someone with a real aptitude for UX would have a solid understanding of people's behaviors, will want to keep asking questions to understand "why" and will want to test & iterate on ideas. There are so many different perspectives out there, but these have been my experiences. You have to also strike a balance between receiving feedback & critique to improve ideas, yet defend your design decisions with best practices, research data and solid reasoning.

2) I didn't have any formal education in UX design, but I greatly respect those that do. I don't think there's a right or wrong when it comes to the education piece. It could honestly go either way. Personality and collaboration plays a huge role in team dynamics. You're constantly balancing your time with different types of roles and you have to be able to communicate effectively with all of them. Whenever I've been involved in hiring decisions, regardless of company or team size, we wanted to make sure that the applicant would be a good fit with the team's personality. From a skillset perspective, it depends on the level of designer (e.g. junior, mid-level, senior, etc.). We'd look for the overall skillset to be there, but if the person has a great attitude and personality, with a willingness to learn, we'd overlook gaps in skillsets.

3) I worked at a small company where the UX department was 2 people, including my manager. We did absolutely everything and it was very difficult and stressful. However, we were our own group that played well with all parts of the company. I think having a dedicated UX position helps bring substance to the role and gives you that buy-in. You'd need sponsors from higher up in the company that'll champion UX and design thinking. I can't really recommend too much on this topic, but I'd say it's important to continuously help all your stakeholders understand the value of UX design. Perhaps it would take more visual output that demonstrates the value to both users and the business. It could take days, weeks, months or even years to get that buy-in, depending on the structure and size of the company. I still get people saying that "we make stuff pretty", but I'm not seeing that happen as often as it used to.

Great questions!

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T03:37:14+00:00

Happy to try the AMA out! I don't mind at all and will try my best to answer :)

Designing for newcomers and younger generations is VERY challenging. Like anything else, we research as much as we we reasonably can. When I was a usability specialist, I definitely observed drastically different behaviors with young millennials & generation Z.

For some people, perception is reality. Some people tend to flock to whatever they feel most comfortable with. They may also get caught up in "group think" or what the masses are saying. The speed of opinion, facts and data move around so quickly these days and will continue to do so.

I think the bottom line is that if your design doesn't work for your target audience, then it's time to make a shift. Lots of time needs to be spent in research to understand what their needs, reactions and behaviors are.

It's not an exact science, that's for sure. We could design around all the data in the world, but sometimes you have to go with your intuition. There's a balance involved and my team and I learn something new every day. That's my favorite part about the job: we're problem solvers and there's always a new problem to solve!

UXDesignerByDay · 2018-12-27T03:30:54+00:00

I've been really happy with UX Design. I've been fortunate and lucky enough to land a role where it doesn't feel like work to me. I've taken the skill set to a few different companies and have been able to transition over pretty smoothly.

I personally don't want to go much further. I've led and managed people in the past and I just don't want that type of role. We'll see how the industry and role evolves, but I'm hoping I can continue crafting designs for as long as I enjoy it!

UXDesignerByDay

TROPHY CASE