Are we witnessing the end of the UX era?
I was introduced to these sites that offer volunteer jobs for people who need real-life experience a few weeks back, I love giving back to the community and helping in any way I can, and the learning experience. I won’t pass it up, so I joined the Slack channels. But nothing prepared me for what I saw, I know the job market is in shambles right now, and the industry itself is suffering but nope this isn’t it.
Techfleet has almost 9k members
UX Rescue has over 20k members
Apart from these two, there are other channels I'm part of, dedicated solely to helping job seekers with opportunities and teaching.
NexaScale has over 10k members
HerTechTrail has over 19k members
these are just the 1% of UX communities out there, with thousands of members, with one goal, greener pastures.
These stats explain the massive surge of talent flooding the industry, you will think with this many talents, opportunities would be available, but the opposite is the case, we are witnessing a massive decline in opportunities, and the economy is on a row boat.
According to Kathryn Brookshler, UX manager at Indeed;
“The UX job market is in the middle of an exceptionally rough patch… The industry has not reached an obvious bottom yet. Layoffs have pushed many experienced UX professionals into the job market. roles are available but competition will continue to be stiff.”
Don’t get me started on LinkedIn, Medium, and our dearest X. It’s the same story recycling all the time, instead of focusing and passing information on what UX is, the fundamentals, we are faced with content on how to stand out in the job market, what tools you need, AI written content, layoffs, how portfolios should look like, click baits, what to include in resumes, how to make thousands of dollars with AI, same contents and struggles every damn (Excuse my language) day. This led me to wonder “ Are we witnessing the end of the UX era?” what is really happening?
Where exactly is the root of the problem? what even is the problem? how do we tackle it? are there even solutions to the problem? it certainly does not look like it right now, are we going to cross our hearts and hope things get better? what is even there to do?
All these questions I have no answers to led me to conduct intensive research, my need to understand what is going on led me to several groundbreaking articles discussing the industry, what is happening, ways forward, what to expect and so much more with varying insights and opinions.
To the extent I find the article I intend to write pretty underwhelming, simply because, most of the articles I read are written by professionals in the field, who have experienced the process, gone through it, and learned from it. I am a mere entry-level designer frustrated with the process so I resorted to compiling the articles here so you can read, and understand from different perspectives and opinions.
These articles might not give the perfect solution to what’s going on, (perfection is overrated anyway) but have dived deep into the problem, the possible solutions, and insights. If it were left to me I’d say scrap boot camps and keep it going (I’m a product of one sue me).
I know it’s not the solution but still.
Anything published by the UX Collective Editors, Fabricio Teixeira, or the writers of UX Collective is worth every minute of your time. I especially love reading about the state of UX, it gives you an insight into the year what to expect, and how to leverage it.
This year's covers Automation, industry saturation, commoditization, financialization, and Disintegration. And the best thing? there are actionable insights for you right there.
This incredible piece by Kristian Mikhel was published on January 25th, 2023, over a year later it is safe to say things have gotten a little bit worse if I dare say, and I wonder if he is to write another article like this, how would it turn out?
Kristian dives into history which is the fascinating aspect of this piece and using X as the case study explains the core needs and foundations of UX and how business executives are meddling with the UX industry.
I am adding her name here and not just the article. Because she is one of the few Designers I know who doesn't indulge or pretend to show people what the industry isn't, her article UX is dead, long-live Product Design is an eye opener, Just like every other thing she writes, it touches on aspects you'll want to know.
What the heck is going on with the UX job market
I think this is the question everyone is asking, to Quote him;
“It’s a complete shitshow right now” and there's no other way to describe it.
This article gives you all the stats, the insights, the gist, the solutions and what have you. I think saying more about this will reduce the quality of the article, so go ahead and read it. you'll need it.
Robert Powell, UX/CX strategist wrote on LinkedIn about the nightmare the industry is and the constant noise that drowns the most important voice.
Tom Walter a Consultant, was asking what the hell happened to our industry and I was like same, this isn’t what I expected at all man.
Greg Nudelman said, “ UX is dead”. In his newsletter UX for AI he further said, “The Gods are not without humor: at least we can say that AI is killing what IA has started.”
Context? go read the masterpiece.
There are so many others out there, but these few explain the message I’m trying to pass across, UX is still that field, regardless of the situation, and state of the industry, it doesn’t take away from how important the industry is, and the massive work it’s doing, and will keep doing to the world, AI or not, access to jobs or not, great work environment or not, it is still User Experience unless zombie apocalypse happen… (I hope not)
Finally, reduce the Bootcamps will you?
