My path to a Principal Product Designer role and what you can learn from it

Hi there, for those of you that don't know me, I am a Principal Product Designer at Zalando right now. That means that I have been a principal for a good 4 years already. I've had a long journey to that point in my career and I might have one or two tips for you, if you are interested in reaching the principal level in your organisation.

👏 Clamps if you are interested in becoming a principal product designer!

Just kidding ;)

For the background, I started my design career 13 years ago. Uber was founded that year, Airbnb was only 1 year old. At that time I was forced to figure out how the industry works on my own, as the classical education wasn't keeping up with the rapid changes that UX design was going through.

And thanks to that, I wasn't aware of certain boundaries and expectations that might stop designers from advancing to a principal role right now. Here are this boundaries:

#1. Be your own lead

For a significant period of time I didn't have an experienced lead or CEO by my side. We were all pioneers, no one knew what a good digital product should look like. That taught me to be a team lead even before it is reflected in my title.

So the best advice I can give to you…