Jobs…jobs…jobs!!!
We all need a job, well unless you have a large savings to last you a lifetime or a pretty hefty inheritance from your great-grandma. Lets face it, these bills have to be paid and one’s gotta live a pretty decent life. That’s why i believe you have to do what you love for work. This explains part of my reason behind switching careers into the UX field. I love user experience and anything associated with it… so here i am, I’m doing this! It’s facinating to take a peak at UX jobs though. The job descriptions sounds like fun… with buzzwords like “create”, “design”, “build” etc. That gets me really excited!
While browsing through UX jobs, you see most “researcher” roles or very specific UX roles in large corporations. The job descriptions all seem to focus on team work that involves multiple areas of the business or the establishment. It makes sense because most of these large corporations already have an established product or service to offer to its users. They just need to continue to refine and improve it for their users. Other larger corporations also had lead design/product manager roles which seems to oversee the overall process.
Most start-up I’ve come accross seem to be looking for the well rounded UX professional. Most of the start up jobs I’ve come accross are looking for UI/UX designers. They need someone who can handle everything from wireframes to usability testing. In a nutshell someone who is well rounded in UX. It makes sense because most start ups are in the beginning phase of their company and need solid experience to handle their business needs. Agencies were also very similar as start ups. Most of the agency UX roles were also more well rounded and not specific UX focused roles like that of larger corporations.
In a nutshell, the UX job search process is fun. They all center around designing something amazing for your users. Depending on what you are looking for as a UX professional, you may be able to target specific industry or type of organization. If you want to focus on being a UX researcher working with multiple teams to accomplish a task,you may want to try larger organizations. If you want to be a well rounded designer working on small team or alone, then look at start ups or agencies. However i think as a someone transitioning into the UX career field, you should consider a Junior UX role that will give you the opportunity to learn and grow in the field. You should be looking for an opportunity that will help you build more on your portfolio and then maybe branch out eventually to do some specific UX roles that may interest you more. Just a thought.
But go ahead and apply away… go get the UX job of your dreams!!!
Here are some examples of UX jobs i came across:
- UX Researcher — GOOGLE:
UX Researcher — GOOGLE
User Experience (UX) Researchers work to answer the most challenging questions in design. In this role, you will reveal what our users need from our products by conducting primary research, exploring the behaviors and motivations of our users, and working with teams of Designers, Product Managers, Engineers and others to develop new features. You’ll inspire change at all stages of product development by delivering exciting oral, written and visual presentations about our findings. Most importantly, your job as a researcher is to help the UX team understand what would make a user’s experiences feel more intuitive, accessible, fun — and even magical.
With considerable experience, you evaluate all the features contributing to user experience, providing expertise, collaborating internally and occasionally leading projects. You contribute new processes and identify product and use requirements.
2. UI/UX Designer — EXCELLA CONSULTING
User Experience (UX) Designers at Excella work with stakeholders, developers, and designers to understand the big problems and collaborate on effective solutions. Our UX Designers are engaged in every part of the UX process, including user research, information architecture, content strategy, interaction design, user interface design, and visual design. If you want be a part of a team determined to design effective solutions and improve the web, then we are looking for you
3. UI/UX Designer — CVENT
We’re looking for a talented designer to be the next member of our User Experience team. As Cvent improves its existing products and builds new ones, you’ll play a key role in defining and implementing our applications’ look and feel. Typical projects will include updating interfaces for new features, building prototypes for new products, and designing templates and icons.
https://cvent.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=1557