UX Designers = Jack/Jane of All Trades
As I research what my potential future may hold, I’ve learned that world of UX is a pretty broad spectrum. Knowing the difference between the key roles is really important, but often times they all blend together depending on what is offered. This article on co.design does a really great job of describing what each role means.
Now, in my research when looking at actual job descriptions, many of them had a lot of the same prerequisites and and skills needed. Some skills are sought after depending on the industry.
Startups for instance, really stress the importance of being a Jack/Jane of All Trades. It is important to be able to design for both mobile and web, because often times, they’re still so small and cannot afford to hire people with different skill-sets. If you are to work in a startup, be prepared to be pushed in the deep end, you’ll be getting everything thrown your way! Startups emphasize on collaborative working environment where all the teams work closely together. Roles definitely overlap, and the UX designer will most likely be a project manager, a coder, a visual designer, and an account exec all at the same time. They will take the lead at conducting user research and explaining their findings to people whether it be a client or their board. A designer at a startup is the foundation of developing user interfaces that keep the integrity of their users.
Much like startups, Agencies hiring for UX designers are also very collaborative and have them working closely with other departments. I worked at an agency before coming to GA and the entire team works together on understanding how to take design methodologies and research to help figure out what a client needs. This is reiterated in many of the job descriptions I found, and it is important that designers are able solve problems the clients didn’t even know they had. UX designers in Agencies need to be comfortable with working closely other disciplines in order to meet deliverables. They need to have knowledge in UI and are rockstars at sketching, workflows, wire framing, case studies, and are comfortable at concept diagrams. Having great communication skills is a must in an agency setting, because they need to be able to clearly communicate when brainstorming, conceptualizing ideas to both their team and clients.
When looking at in house large corporation job descriptions I found that they also wanted a well rounded, collaborative, team player. The only difference is, they really emphasized on having specific skills sets, mostly related to front-end development and knowing HTML, CSS and JavaScript. They had the UX designers working closely with engineers, UI designers and the design team. They really want the UX designers to be the bridge between each discipline. Another thing that was listed multiple times was being a wireframe God, which leads me to believe that the UX designer is there from conception to birth.
All of these descriptions were very similar, and the key takeaway I got from this was no matter if you’re applying to a startup, an agency, or a large corporation they want someone who can do it all. A Jack/Jane of all trades must:
- Have strong knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript
- Be able to collaborate with different disciplines and act as a bridge between them
- Have great verbal communication skills that allow them to compellingly tell a story to their users
Master these, and I think you’ll be on the right track.
