Rant 3: “Encouragement for UX Designers That Have Faced Rejection: Go Get ’Em” (Transcript)
User Experience
Rant 3 // Designed Today
June 2018
Welcome back. Another episode, another rant. Today, I’ve got something that I felt was probably worth coming and chatting about for a quick second.
Typically on these rants, I’ve got something that I try to say to coach, but this one isn’t so much to coach as much as it is encouragement.
As many of you guys know, I work for a company here in Utah called Domo, and for Domo, I run the mobile UX side of things where we work on their iOS and their Android apps. It’s pretty fun, pretty awesome, and recently, I had the opportunity to get a couple more people on board joining the team. I blasted out a message on LinkedIn telling people I was looking for interns to jump on board the team, and learn a little bit more about mobile UX and I was- first off, I was kind of blown away by the response. I had [00:01:00] thirty-some applicants that I started going through within the first week. It just … again, blown away by the reaction and the response that we got from people and really humbled by that, but let me talk a little bit about these candidates because that’s what this is all about today.
Thirty candidates, or so, came in looking at getting their foot in the door with a mobile UX internship. Pretty sweet!
These candidates, as I started to vet them out, one of the things that became very apparent to me was that their resumes all looked, for the most part, identical.
You know, they’d be going down their list of experience: they’ve got schooling, they’ve got a couple projects. All these projects, they’ve done in school. Maybe they’ve done a little bit of freelance stuff. But nothing real concrete, nothing that really makes them stand out with a couple years of experience and that’s kind of the situation that everybody was in. Now, it’s cool, but how do you stand out in this crowd?
I want to talk a little bit [00:02:00] about that, but first I want to just make a quick note about those candidates who we did vet; if you’re one of those candidates who I’ve talked to over the last month or so, first off, props to you! You guys were amazing. You’re really stand out candidates. (There’s only one or two of you that I wasn’t very impressed with but- yeah, forget that!) Those candidates probably won’t listen to this anyways, but for the most part all of those candidates that I’ve talked to were just, kind of, you know, outstanding, great potential candidates who, I know a couple of them, already, landed some internships since then. A couple of them landed full-time gigs since then. That’s what I expect. These guys were really great individuals with a lot of talent.
UX Candidates That Stand Out
Unfortunately, with the internship that we were looking for, I was only hiring two people. And so, how do you whittle down this list of thirty people down to two? You’ve got to cross out a few people on your list who are amazing candidates who just, unfortunately, weren’t going to end up at Domo- probably for our loss- [00:03:00] but let me talk a little bit about what helps some of these candidates stand out.
I recognize that everyone’s resumes look pretty much identical.
What made a couple candidates stand out more than others wasn’t necessarily, “do you have one or two years of experience that we can draw off of?” For me, it was, “how much work have you put in to getting other experience?” and, if you’re saying to yourself, “Okay, that’s fine, but I’m not a freelancer who’s going to go drum up new business.” That’s cool, too! You don’t have to do those things in order to get new experience.
It is as easy as going online and looking up a UX creative brief and just working on something, and I suggest for those who don’t have a very strong portfolio and are looking to land their first UX gig, come up with something, anything. Just let me see that you’ve done something outside of just your projects in school that is allowing you to get more experience underneath your belt. Three or four projects in your portfolio that came out of school? Great. Let me see three or four more that you took the initiative and you did it on [00:05:00] your own to see a process from beginning to end.
No, it’s not going to be perfect. Right, you miss the part about collaboration. You miss the part about having data, or you miss the part about having users that, you know, use this made-up app. Yeah, I get all of that. But do something because that initiative that you show really is what helped a couple of our candidates stand out.
What else did I want to say? For those people who came from graphic design backgrounds and didn’t really have the UX experience. You guys have a great shot at getting UX experience in the future. One of those things I want to recommend though is getting yourselves more ingrained with a traditional UX process. Look into a couple platforms or software that are going to help in UX. I know there’s a couple people who have never opened up Sketch or Invision. I’m not saying you have to have those two apps underneath your tool belt, but at Domo it’s what we use. So, without having that experience, it was hard to say, “Okay, well, you’re more qualified than the candidates who know how to work [00:06:00] those programs.” So, learn a little bit about the programs, the software, the curriculum, or, I’m sorry, the design process as far as UX goes. Study those things out, learn a little bit more about them. There’s books, there’s podcasters, articles, whatever you need. The options are out there. Show initiative and get after it!
UX Education Stacks Up With Experience
What else do I want to say? Oh! There was this idea that I kept coming up with, as well, that kind of took me by surprise, as well. After talking to a lot of these UX designers that were coming out of school, one of the things that caught me by surprise was the fact of how thoroughly “studied up” they were; and I think that’s amazing, it’s great. There’s more UX material now, as far as in the education space, than there was when I started doing UX a few years back. I never had the traditional education of UX like a lot of people who I [00:07:00] interviewed have right now; and that’s only going to increase.
The candidate pool of UX designers coming out of schools is only going to increase and for those UX designers who have been in school … I’m sorry, for those UX designers who have just been in the field and didn’t go through UX curriculum, all we’ve got going for us right now is just experience and that’s cool right now. But in five years these designers who just came out of DevMountain or just graduated from UVU’s UX program, they’re going to have five years of experience, plus the more traditional education, and I think these kids, these candidates, are going to be able to compete.
So, that I guess is almost a warning to those UX designers who have just kind of gotten into UX because of the time and the place, make sure you’re always refining your craft. Make sure you’re always studying up, because in a couple of years, we’re going to have candidates with the same amount of experience that you do right now and they’re going to have a more formal education, and in a field in which things are moving so fast, and so rapidly, [00:08:00] your seven or eight years of experience doesn’t help you stand out that much more than somebody with five years of experience.
So, continue to stay on your craft for those of you who are coming out of school. Keep grinding. I know a lot of people have come and said, “How do I land on my first position?” It is a madhouse and I feel for you. Again, when you’ve got programs like DevMountain pumping out new students every thirteen weeks, it’s a supply and demand thing, right? There’s only so many UX positions that will be coveted and, you know, the rest of you just got, you got to make do, you got to find a way to battle through it. More and more candidates are going to be saturating the market as far as UX design goes and there’s only going to be so many positions available.
Find a way to get your advantage. Find a way to take your lead.
I think that’s it. I think that’s it for rant number three. Am I keeping it under 10 minutes? Looks like it. I’ll wrap it up. It’s a bit of a longer rant.
If you have questions or if you’re one of those candidates whose thinking, you know, my portfolio is not strong enough- reach out. [00:09:00] There’s a lot of material out there in the world already, but if you want somebody to chat with about it, feel free to reach out. Whether it’s through my email or through LinkedIn, whatever it may be, reach out. I’d love to give a hand, or offer whatever help I can.
Again to those candidates who applied for the internship at Domo, I want to thank you. You guys were great. For the two that we hired, we’re excited to be working with you guys and good things to come.
Alright everyone. That’s it for today. You can take it or leave it. That’s rant number three.
[Beep]
Okay, I’m jumping into this. This is rant number three. I think it’s three? This is a rant. This is a rant. This is … rant. I am Groot? No, I’m starting over. This is rant number three and on today’s rant … Nope, starting over again.
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Thanks,
Dillon Winspear | Designed Today
You can find me through all the expected social platforms— Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram — as well as, of course, through my company website.
