So you want to be a UX designer?
Around this time last year, I graduated from college with an engineering degree, sleep deprivation, and a dream: to get a job as a user experience designer. Finding a job was a process filled with rejection and doubt, but I never gave up on following my passion. And I’m happy to report it paid off- I am now part of Fuzzy Math’s amazing team (shoutout to Mark and Ben for giving me this great opportunity).
If you are like me and fell in love with the idea of going to work everyday and using creativity and empathy to solve interesting problems, you might be wondering how you too can land your dream job. What I learned through my job search process is this: there is no one fool-proof way to land that UX design job. When I first came to Fuzzy Math, I asked all my coworkers how they got here and although each person has a very unique background (chemical engineering, graphic design, and web development to name a few), I noticed a few key similarities in their narrative. Each person had a unrelenting passion for what they were doing and had worked really hard to get here.
Throughout my journey, I desperately sought out any advice I could get from people already in the place I wanted to be. I valued anyone who would answer my LinkedIn messages and cool people willing to let me buy them coffee to hear their stories. Now surrounded by people who inspire me, I decided to pick their brains about UX. Hopefully this article can provide a little guidance to those trying to get into the field, or at the least gives an interesting insight into the challenges and great rewards of being in this profession that we here at Fuzzy Math are so passionate about.
What advice would you give to someone trying to get into the UX industry for the first time?
UX roles often require a portfolio of work. Look around you; even if you’re not currently in a design role I bet there’s a process or a system that could be improved upon. Offer a hand in improving that process, document the problem, show how you went about improving it, what change resulted from the process, and what did you learn.
Reading is a great way to get started — I’m personally a huge fan of anything by Rosenfeld Media — I started with “The User Experience Team of One”. But while reading can get you a good general grasp of concepts, finding ways to practice those concepts and a mentor to give you high-quality feedback on that practice is invaluable to getting up to speed as a UXer.
Some other book recommendations to get you started that came up in the conversation (we are big readers here):
- Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug
- Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
- Designing for the Digital Age by Kim Goodwin
- Anything by A Book Apart
What was the most challenging part of getting to where you are today?
What I didn’t account for was the gap between being familiar with the process and actually doing and applying the process. Feeling the humility of starting from “the beginning” is not something to feel afraid of.
The phrase “perfection is the enemy of good” comes to mind. By its very nature designing for humans, it’s going to be hard to get something “perfect” for every situation. Even with solid research, meaningful business goals, and well-informed designs — knowing when you’ve crossed the line from good into perfect is hard.
Why do you love being a UX designer?
We come from so many backgrounds, but those diverse experiences are what make us good at our jobs. We’re a curious bunch (none more so than at FM, honestly), and we can learn from each other as much as we can learn from whatever project we’re working on. I love that I get to come to work and learn something new every single day.
UX design combines investigation and research with problem solving and building, what’s not to like? I enjoy getting to take deep dives into all sorts of different industries and jobs designing for different users. I’ve gotten to spend time wandering the halls of hospitals with doctors, surveying chemical stores with safety managers, learning from high schoolers about what gets them interested in their education.
Originally published at fuzzymath.com on April 6, 2018.
