UX Career Development Paths

🐑 Business Language vs. UX Language. How to present design work, explain design decisions and get stakeholders on your side ↓ 🤔 Businesses rarely understand the impact of UX work. 🤔 UX language is overloaded with ambiguous terms/labels. 🤔 Business can’t support initiatives it doesn’t understand. ✅ Leave UX language and UX abbreviations at the door. ✅ Explain design work through the lens of business goals. 🚫 Avoid “consistency”, “empathy”, “simplicity”, “affordance”. 🚫 Avoid “design thinking”, “cognitive load”, “universal design”. 🚫 Avoid “lean UX”, “agile”, “archetypes”, “Jobs-To-Be-Done”. 🚫 Avoid “stakeholder management” and “design validation”. 🚫 Avoid abbreviations: WIP, POC, HMW, IxD, PDP, PLP, WCAG. ✅ Explain how you’ll measure success of your design work. ✅ Speak of business value, loyalty, abandonment, churn. ✅ Show risk management, compliance, governance, evidence. ✅ Refer to cost reduction, efficiency, growth, success, Design KPIs. ✅ Present inclusive design as an industry-wide way of working. As designers, we often use design terms, such as consistency, friction or empathy. Yet to many managers, these attributes don’t map to any business objectives at all, often leaving them baffled and utterly confused about the actual real-life impact of our UX work. One way out that changed everything for me is leaving UX vocabulary at the door when entering a business meeting. Instead, I try to explain UX work through the lens of the business — mapping it with business objectives and desired outcomes. So when presenting design work in a big meeting, I try to be very deliberate and strategic in the choice of words. I won’t be speaking about attracting “eye-balls” or getting users “hooked”. It’s just not me. But I won’t be speaking about “reducing friction” or “improving consistency” either. Instead, I tell a story. A story that visualizes how our work helps the business. How design team has translated business goals into specific design initiatives. How UX can reduce costs. Increase revenue. Grow business. Open new opportunities. New markets. Increase efficiency. Extend reach. Mitigate risk. Amplify word of mouth. And how we’ll measure all that huge impact of our work. Typically, it’s broken down into 8 sections: 🎯 Goals ← Business targets, KRs we aim to achieve. 💥 Translation ← Design initiatives, iterations, tests. 🕵️ Evidence ← Data from UX research, pain points. 🧠 Ideas ← Prioritized by an impact/effort-matrix. 🕹 Design work ← Flows, features, user journeys. 📈 Design KPIs ← How we’ll measure/report success. 🐑 Shepherding ← Risk management, governance. 🔮 Future ← What we believe are good next steps. Next time you walk in a meeting, pay attention to your words. Translate UX terms in a language that other departments understand. It might not take long until you’ll see support coming from everywhere — just because everyone can now clearly see how your work helps them do their work better. [continues in the comments ↓]

I find career progression maps extremely effective. They answer one of the most prominent questions I get in interviews: "What does career progression look like in your org?" A well-defined career map: 1. Helps designers identify what they need to work on 2. Clearly sets expectations on career progression 3. Connects the dots between hard and soft skills 4. Sets the tone for assessing performance 5. Provides clarity and alignment I created this simple product design progression map to help you understand some of the key areas we assess when building design teams. For simplicity, it's broken down into 4 areas: - Ownership - Collaboration - Craft - Research Larger design teams sometimes break this down even further and include specifics like communication, impact, mentoring, design systems, prototyping, and so on. The map covers core career levels from Junior to Lead without going too granular on IC vs. Management pathways, as these differ greatly from one company to another. Use this map to: - Assess where you are in your journey - Find areas where you may benefit from growing - Help build your organization's design career map If you found the map useful, consider reporting ♻️ Find the link to a full Notion template you can copy for your organization in the comments below 👇 #productdesign #uxdesign #uiux

Ensuring collaboration is central to a product's success during the UX strategy phase begins with uncertainty about where to start. ➡️ It's important to start by integrating resources and knowledge from various areas of expertise. Here's a combined approach on my experience to get a successful results and great user satisfaction rate 1️⃣ Get Smart Early in the Process: Involvement: Bring in PMs, Engineers, Designers, Researchers, and key stakeholders early to gain insights. Understanding: Focus on the "4W's" (Who, What, When, Where), technical impact, and project scope.
 2️⃣ Learn and Explore: Understanding Customer Needs: Identify customer pain points and their actual needs. Analysis and Metrics: Make assumptions, conduct competitive analysis, and define success metrics and current statistics.
 3️⃣ Define Problem: Validation and Conceptualization: Validate the problem, draft high-level concepts, and define hypotheses for testing.
 4️⃣ Design: Concept Creation: Develop low-fidelity (low-fi) concepts and involve researchers for testing. Collaboration: Show concepts to Tech and PMs, and address technical challenges.
 5️⃣ Re-iterate: Feedback and Refinement: Fix the main journey (happy path), take internal and external feedback, and implement changes. Testing: Conduct another round of testing.
 6️⃣ Hand off to Development: Finalization and QA: Design the final prototype, perform QA testing, and ensure all workflows are correct. Cross-Platform Check: Ensure designs are optimized for all viewports. Approval: Get sign-off from all parties before handing over to development.
 7️⃣ Launch and Monitor: Post-Launch Feedback: After launching, gather feedback through success metrics and third-party tools. Client and User Feedback: Seek feedback from real clients and conduct user interviews. Refinement: Address major feedback issues, prioritize, and monitor. Useful Resources ✅ Ux Vision — A vision is an aspirational view of the experience users will have with your product, service, or organization in the future. https://lnkd.in/gPPY-zPJ https://lnkd.in/g8Rc9pzp ✅ Outcome over Outputs — Work towards purposeful outcomes (problems solved, needs addressed, and real benefits) leads to better results. https://lnkd.in/gAFX_Wxw ✅ OKR in UX — Define objectives and measurable key results to guide and track UX work. https://lnkd.in/gDYvreN2 ✅ UX Goal Analytics — Focus on UX goals to drive analytics measurement plans, rather than tracking superficial metrics. https://lnkd.in/g3QmZqBd #UxStrategy #TransitionToUx #UxCoach #BeAvailable

3 Big Reasons Why UX Design Portfolios Fail, Even For Designers With Great UI/UX Design Skills. Every day I see talented designers fail. Not because they lack skills. But because their portfolios don't support their skills. After reviewing thousands of portfolios in the last 5 years, the pattern is clear. Most designers are their own worst clients. They do great work for others- their clients and companies. But, run the chances of their own portfolio success with these three mistakes: 👉🏼 Many Projects, No Depth You've worked hard on many projects. You want to show them all. But, wait- Don't. Hiring managers only review 2-3 case studies. If you show 10+, you'll be judged by your weakest work. Less is more. Pick your 3 strongest projects and let them shine. 👉🏼 The Unclear Process Beautiful mockups won't get you hired. Your thinking process will. When I hired 100+ designers, I cared most about: • How you framed the problem • What research methods you chose • How you handled constraints • Why you made key decisions • What you learned from failures Show your messy sketches. Share your dropped concepts. Show your thinking, not just your final mockups. 👉🏼 Following a Template Using the same portfolio template as everyone else? You've just become invisible. I've seen thousands of identical case studies. Same headings. Same format. Same sections. To Stand out- Break the pattern. Remember: Your portfolio isn't just displaying your work. It is your work. It should reflect the same care, thought, and polish you bring to your designs. What's your biggest portfolio struggle right now? Share it in the comments below PS: In the last 5 years, I've helped 800+ designers approach their portfolios with practical advice.. Follow Rohan Mishra for more.

Presenting design to execs who “don’t get it”? That's a big pain point for designers. This might help. Don't do this: ❌ Explain design theory ❌ Show every screen ❌ Talk process too much ❌ Defend details ❌ Hope they get it Do this instead: ✅ Frame decisions in business outcomes ✅ Show the before/after impact ✅ Talk user pain and business risk ✅ Connect to strategy ✅ Pre-wire the room before the meeting Design isn’t art. It’s leverage. Pitch it like it matters BECAUSE IT DOES. BTW. I've pitched design hundreds of times. ↓ Here's a short guide with battle-tested tips. Save it. Use it. Share it. ✌️ P.S. Share YOUR presentation tips in the comments!

While auditing content for an Entrepreneurship course at UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture I discovered a secret. The secret to enhanced user-centric innovation: We often get "stuck" with what we're taught, and this sometimes affects how we think. We all learn about Design Thinking as a standalone tool, but there's MUCH MORE to it. Integrating Design Thinking, Lean UX, and Agile methodologies creates a powerful framework for driving user-centric innovation. Here's how it works: → Design Thinking: for deep empathy and problem definition → Lean UX: for rapid prototyping and validation → Agile: for iterative development and delivery ... And what happens when each is missing? • Without Design Thinking = "Misunderstanding" • Without Lean UX = "Wasted Effort" • Without Agile = "Stagnation" Combining these methodologies offers a holistic approach. Concept Exploration + Iterative Experimentation = Needs-and-Pain-point Discovery The initial stages emphasize brainstorming and prioritizing insights, leading to hypothesis formation that guides subsequent experiments. Continuous experimentation allows for the revision of hypotheses based on real user feedback, creating a dynamic loop of learning and adaptation. Here's how to integrate them: 1/ Design Thinking: Start with empathy. Understand your users deeply before defining the problem. 2/ Lean UX: Prototype quickly. Validate your ideas with real users early and often. 3/ Agile: Iterate. Develop in short cycles and adapt based on feedback. As teams build and explore new ideas, they foster collaboration across disciplines, leveraging diverse perspectives to refine solutions. This integrated framework not only enhances the customer experience but also drives sustainable growth. This helps founders ensure they remain competitive and relevant in their respective industries. George Dr. Kelsey Burton Yenni 👀 LESSGO!

Want to show the value of your UX work to the business? You need to speak in $$$, not UX-ese . Here are 3 powerful ways to make stakeholders care about UX. 🔍 Desirable, viable & feasible Your design needs to hit all 3. Ask these questions about your work: - Desirable: Does it provide the transformation users want? - Viable: Can you sell it or does it add value to something being sold? - Feasible: Can it be built with available resources? 🔍 Map your business ecosystem  To understand how you work is important to the business, understand the business. Create a visual map showing how your business delivers value, how it charges for it, and the revenue streams.  Don't guess—talk to your CFO, accountants, and PMs to understand the business model fully. Ask for the numbers. 🔍 Connect leading indicators to lagging indicators  Leading indicators (like completion rates) = metrics your UX work directly affects. Lagging indicators (like revenue) = business outcomes everyone cares about Your job? Show how improved onboarding completion rates (leading) connect to more paid subscriptions (lagging). Don't claim credit for distant outcomes—demonstrate how your work influences specific metrics that lead to business results. What techniques have you used to communicate UX value to stakeholders?

The secret to landing more UX job offers? Stop chasing them. Here’s how to make employers line up for you instead. 1/ Create demand for your unique skills. ↳ Position yourself as a specialist in a niche area of UX that’s in high demand. ↳ Showcase your expertise through thought leadership—write articles, share case studies, and speak at industry events. ↳ When you become known for a specific strength, employers will come to you. Takeaway: Become in-demand by specializing in what you do best. 2/ Build your personal brand to attract the right opportunities. ↳ Cultivate an online presence that reflects your passion, expertise, and values. ↳ Engage with your audience—whether through LinkedIn posts, Twitter threads, or portfolio updates. ↳ Your personal brand is your magnet; make sure it’s pulling in the opportunities you want. Takeaway: A strong personal brand makes employers chase you, not the other way around. 3/ Showcase the value you create, not just the work you do. ↳ Focus on the outcomes of your designs—how they improved user experiences, increased conversions, or solved critical problems. ↳ Use your portfolio to tell stories of impact, not just process. ↳ Employers pay for results, so highlight the big problems you’ve solved. Takeaway: Emphasize your impact to make your work irresistible. 4/ Don’t be afraid to set boundaries. ↳ Be selective about the roles you apply for—focus on those that align with your strengths and career goals. ↳ Let potential employers know your standards; this increases your value and attracts better offers. ↳ You don’t need every job—you need the right job. Takeaway: Setting boundaries makes you more desirable to top employers. TL;DR: 1/ Specialize in a high-demand area of UX to create demand for your skills. 2/ Build a personal brand that attracts the opportunities you want. 3/ Focus on showcasing the value and impact of your work. 4/ Set boundaries to increase your value and attract the right offers. What niche area of UX do you want to be known for? Share it below, and let’s discuss how to position yourself as the go-to expert. P.S. When was the last time you let an opportunity come to you? It’s time to flip the script!

Want to grow as a generalist designer? 1. Pick your 3-5 overlapping skills Think about skills that have something in common. Look for overlap. - Design systems + Branding - Motion + storytelling - Facilitation + service design 2. Think T-Shaped - Go broad across a theme - and then deep with 1 or 2 skills 3. Go deep Your deep skills are your spike. They set you apart. - Motion design for immersive interactions - AI design for fintech - Icon design 4. Package your skills - Craft Designer: Design systems, branding, motion - Growth Designer: Experiments, Metrics, Business impact - AI Designer: System thinking, AI patterns, innovation 5. Bring entrepreneurial spirit With AI we’ll see more founders. Be ready. - Become an operator, translator, connector - Treat your career as a career portfolio - Build relationships - Go beyond design skills What have you picked? Drop your skills package in the comments ☺️🫶 #UXDesigner #GrowthDesigner #CareerDevelopment

Your UX education is failing you. Most UX courses teach you tools. Not thinking. Here's what's missing—and how to fix it. 1. UX is not UI Most programs focus on UI design. They ignore research, psychology, and strategy. Fix: Learn to think like a problem-solver, not just a designer. 2. Real UX is teamwork In school, you work alone. In the real world, you collaborate with PMs, engineers, and business teams. Fix: Work on cross-functional projects, even outside coursework. 3. UX needs business thinking Design must drive business impact. Not just look good. Fix: Learn about KPIs, user retention, and revenue impact. 4. Soft skills matter No course teaches negotiation, storytelling, or stakeholder management. Fix: Practice presenting and justifying design decisions. 5. Degrees don’t get you hired Portfolios and case studies do. Fix: Focus on storytelling and real-world problem-solving. Want to break into UX the right way? Start by mastering what courses don’t teach. What’s missing in UX education? Share your thoughts.