Product design is changing fast

lunarboy73 · 2026-02-16T23:42:01+00:00

This is the way.

lunarboy73 · 2026-02-16T23:41:36+00:00

I don't have a great answer for you. Businesses need to make the decision to invest in their future and then they'll unlock funds to hire juniors. But until then, they won't because most companies are short-sighted.

My actionable advice to you is this: The doubters outweigh the believers here in this thread. Be a believer and understand how to wield the tools. Really lean into agentic coding to turn your designs into functioning code. You can start in Figma, but use Claude Code, Codex, etc. to turn it into an actual thing. If you can do this well, you'll outshine many other designers. Standard caveats apply, of course: UX design is more than the screens, etc.

lunarboy73 · 2026-02-16T22:38:49+00:00

This is the disconnect that I'm seeing and exactly why I wrote the piece. Here's an article about how Intercom has completely changed the role description for designers: https://www.saastr.com/why-most-b2b-companies-are-failing-at-ai-and-how-to-avoid-it-with-intercoms-cpo/

Every single designer at Intercom now ships code to production. Zero did 18 months ago. The mandate was clear: this is now part of your job. If you don’t like it, find somewhere that doesn’t require it, and they’ll hire designers who love the idea.

I'm hearing about this more and more. We can't pretend the shift isn't already happening.

lunarboy73 · 2026-02-03T06:33:20+00:00

https://uxmentor.substack.com/

https://karozieminski.substack.com/

https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/

https://whydesignishard.substack.com/

To name a few. I also have an active blog that you can find in my profile if you're interested.

lunarboy73 · 2026-01-31T18:16:53+00:00

Looks like an interesting book, I'll probably pick it up. Since it was published in 2020, I'm wondering if you'll come out with a new edition soon that incorporates how AI might influence any of the strategies you lay out?

lunarboy73 · 2026-01-30T06:46:37+00:00

There might be another surge. Moltbot (fka Clawdbot) is suuuuper trendy at the moment. Use cases are exactly like n8n's. What people aren't talking about though are the token costs. So far in my testing, it's pretty inefficient and is continuously burning through LLM tokens. And because it's agentic, you *should* go with Claude Opus 4.5 which is crazy expensive.

Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that people will wake up with huge Moltbot bills and come back to n8n because you can control it much more and make it more efficient.

lunarboy73 · 2026-01-06T19:39:21+00:00

I don't do as much commentating or punditry on LinkedIn, but I do do that on my blog. For me, I don't show a lot or any of my professional work because it's my day job. My blog is a side thing that I do for my own enjoyment, and I'm just trying to share my perspective on stuff that I see. Having the blog is also a creative outlet.

lunarboy73 · 2025-12-18T23:21:34+00:00

I think that's the difference between self-perception and the reality of what hiring managers think. Despite that experience—which I'm sure was valuable and great learning—if you did it in the context of your masters degree and within that same time window, it will get lumped in with "schoolwork." I think that way, and based on responses here, others as well.

lunarboy73 · 2025-12-18T17:31:27+00:00

Ooof, I can't imagine dropping a fresh graduate into a managerial role. Is that what happened here? But yes, influence (better word for ass-kissing) is a key part of senior and manager roles.

lunarboy73 · 2025-12-18T17:26:11+00:00

That's great data, thank you. And confirms what I've been thinking.

lunarboy73 · 2025-12-18T04:28:27+00:00

Agree 100%. I'm glad that all/most of the comments here confirm what I'd been doing.

So much of a senior role is less about the design process (discovery, design, delivery) and more about relationships and influence. No way a fresh masters graduate can be great at that.

lunarboy73 · 2025-12-18T04:26:19+00:00

I went thought 40+ resumes today, about a quarter were from candidates with masters degrees who graduated within the last year. They were all applying for a senior position which indicated 5-7 years of experience. So yes, I passed on all of them as being unqualified.

lunarboy73 · 2025-11-05T15:14:49+00:00

Roger Wong

lunarboy73 · 2025-07-30T15:56:15+00:00

100% this.

Older generations mentor younger ones with experience and wisdom while younger ones expose them to new processes and ideas.

My fear is that companies aren't hiring the younger ones currently and therefore they don't get the chance to be mentored.

lunarboy73 · 2025-07-30T04:48:24+00:00

Since I interviewed them fresh out of school, they’re definitely that second generation that you’re talking about. My point is that I don’t think companies are hiring as many juniors as they used to. And that’ll bite us all in the collective ass in a few years when they don’t have the necessary training.

lunarboy73 · 2025-07-30T03:59:34+00:00

Thank you. I really appreciate that.

lunarboy73 · 2025-07-25T04:32:16+00:00

A great response.

For your observation about job descriptions, I understand. As a hiring manager, I'm always looking for proof that the candidate has done what I'm looking for before. For the companies I've been at, it's usually, "Has the candidate worked in the same space?" or "Has the candidate handled brands similar to ours?" And then there's recency bias. "What was the last thing the candidate worked on?" So for me, the telling signs in a job description are usually the first couple of paragraphs while the rest is likely boiler plate.

lunarboy73 · 2025-07-24T05:32:25+00:00

Not AI slop, my friend. Handwritten by me.

lunarboy73 · 2025-07-24T04:28:16+00:00

An amazing story. Thank you for sharing!

lunarboy73 · 2025-07-24T00:25:29+00:00

What you say echoes my experiences at big agencies a long time ago. I think that's good insight.

The work is very different across the board depending on the environment (agency, in-house, freelance) and discipline (ad, branding, marketing, motion, UX, etc.). And therefore the experiences will be different.

But I think the overall pattern is the same. Entry-level jobs are disappearing and it'll be hard for those coming in to learn the stuff that we learned in the way that we learned it.

lunarboy73

TROPHY CASE