Perks of being an UX designer Becoming a UX designer has its perks, but those perks aren’t limited to the money and power that often comes with the role. In fact, just like with any career, there are many benefits of being a UX designer that you might not think about when you’re first getting started. From flex time to working from home to having more creative freedom, here are five of the biggest perks of being a UX designer.
What are the perks of being a UX designer?
- Ease of Access
- One-on-One Advice
- Leverage Experience
- Opportunities Abound
- Continuous Learning
- Unparalleled Satisfaction
- Ability to Take Initiative
- Fun with Meetings and Events
- Interesting Job Tasks
- Flexible Working Hours
Ease of Access
Have you ever had a friend or family member tell you about a problem with their product, only to find out that your initial solution is already built into it (but with no explanation)? The reason they didn’t know was that they hadn’t taken advantage of all of your product’s features. Good UX design makes it easy for users to learn and use your app or website. If customers have lots of positive experiences using your app, they’ll spread that information to others—making you more money in the long run. Poor UX design leads users to give up on learning how to use an app (in extreme cases) or confuse and frustrate them enough that they leave before completing a purchase.
One-on-One Advice
An excellent and respected mentor can save you hours, if not days, worth time. A mentor has seen it all; their advice is usually invaluable. They can guide you through everything from how to choose a design strategy to how to build a portfolio that really shows off your best work. So when you’re looking for a new job or just trying to get ahead at your current one, ask yourself: Who do I know who might have useful career advice? Don’t be afraid to reach out—someone may be willing to offer guidance, whether in person or by phone or by email. And don’t feel bad asking; we all need help sometimes!
Leverage Experience
Having experience in user experience design will give you a competitive edge over other candidates in your job search. Organizations want to work with individuals who can improve their products or service, which means that hiring someone without a demonstrated history of success isn’t always ideal. However, there’s no set requirement for how long you should have been doing UX design or even if you went to school specifically for it. It all depends on what kind of organization you want to work for and whether they require previous experience as a consideration when making hiring decisions. In many cases, it’s more about what kind of attitude and behavior patterns successful designers share than their background anyway.
Opportunities Abound
Do you love working with people and helping others solve problems? A career in user experience design could be perfect for you. As a UX designer, your job will be to create optimal products by meeting and speaking with clients, collaborating with other designers, researching competitors and current trends, sketching mockups, and prototyping designs. If a career that helps improve people’s lives sounds appealing to you, then consider a position as a user experience (UX) designer. As one of these professionals, you’ll analyze potential problems within an industry or service area and help create solutions that allow customers to interact with technology more effectively.
Continuous Learning
The field of user experience design changes daily and is full of innovation. As a UX designer, you’ll be given ample opportunities to challenge yourself and adapt to new tools, learn new processes, and apply new methods. Whether it’s one week or five years into your career as a UX designer, you’ll never have to stop learning. And if you think about it, continuous learning is one of life’s greatest pleasures; not many jobs out there today can offer that. You’re Invested in Your Success: Unlike many careers, where the employer does all they can to prevent employee success (for example by preventing upward mobility), UX designers often see their employer supporting them in their quest for continuous improvement and innovation.
Most employers want you to grow with them so they don’t lose you to a competitor! Opportunities for Growth: In most industries, employees typically start at lower-level positions and work their way up through promotion. But in user experience design, different roles typically require different levels of education and experience—and sometimes even different skill sets. That means that when entering this industry, no matter what your background may be, you’ll have plenty of opportunities for growth!
Unparalleled Satisfaction
Whether you’re designing for a Fortune 500 company or creating a new app for your local business, you’ll be able to incorporate your insights and provide solutions that delight. Being directly involved in every step of development gives you direct insight into how users interact with design—you can see and hear directly from them, helping to inform future iterations. It’s often these little things that make all the difference. Additionally, as a UX Designer, your role is constantly evolving as technology changes – much like Google did when it originally launched its product suite. You need to be at least somewhat competent in software development to be effective; oftentimes designers have to take on additional responsibilities (coding) in order to move forward with their product!
As a UI/UX Designer, you’ll get to work directly with users and test your designs in real-world scenarios, essentially living and breathing within your target demographic. This insight is invaluable—and it can help inform design decisions and inspire new ideas. But above all else, you’ll have a greater impact on whatever product you’re developing than any other type of employee. The ability to see firsthand how users interact with your designs has proven time and again to be one of the best ways to refine them—and ultimately provide value for customers.
Ability to Take Initiative
Someone who becomes a UX designer often doesn’t start out with years of experience. However, they need to be able to take initiative and find their own way through problems. Without experience, that can be tricky. Sometimes it’s hard to know what problems are worth solving or what approaches will work best. If you’re able to find your own way, you’ll have better chances of quickly getting good at your new job. This is also a great way to differentiate yourself from other candidates when looking for your first job as a UX designer. When hiring managers ask about previous experiences, you can let them know how you took initiative on different projects and learned on your own time!
Take Initiative – Second Paragraph: In addition to finding your own way, you also need to take initiative on company projects. As a fresh hire, you’ll likely be expected to work on smaller, less complicated projects at first. However, as you gain experience and demonstrate your value to your organization, you can take on more complex tasks and bigger responsibilities. The ability to take initiative will help keep your business relevant in a fast-moving field like design. As new trends emerge or technologies advance and become popular, it’s important for designers to stay informed and make sure they’re incorporating these changes into their work as needed.
Fun with Meetings and Events
Part of your job as a UX designer will be attending meetings. If you want to get along with your colleagues and executives, bring fun office supplies like mini speakers or a funny sign. If you want to go all out, organize a hackathon. There are tons of videos online on how to run successful hackathons, so consult those resources before creating one at work. The last thing you want is a big event that fails miserably! You can even buy funny T-shirts for your team or office. As long as it’s all in good fun, there’s no harm in doing it!
You also have to consider how you interact with your colleagues at work. Consider whether you want to get along with everyone or if you’re more comfortable mingling with a specific group. It helps if you’re in groups where people share similar interests and values, but don’t be afraid to talk with people outside your circle. You can start by asking them questions about what they do or if they like their jobs (or how work is going for them that day). You may find that you connect over something unexpected!
Although, being friendly and supportive isn’t all there is to make friends at work.
Interesting Job Tasks
Designing new interfaces is exciting. You’ll come up with creative ways to accomplish tasks and experience a sense of satisfaction when users praise your interface. In addition, you’ll use your design skills to make a user’s experience more enjoyable than it would be otherwise. Many designers report that one of their favorite parts about working in UX is that they often get to be user zero, meaning they get to try out designs before anyone else does—think beta testing and usability tests! Speaking from experience, nothing gives better insight into how people will use a product than actually trying it yourself.
Designing user interfaces is fun, but it’s not all play. Sometimes you’ll be asked to research how people actually use products, either in your company or out in the wild. The insights you gain can help identify design problems that need solving and areas where improvements can be made. Another way to gather information is through interviews with potential users and stakeholders who have domain knowledge about a particular system, feature, or product. You may also have to set up and run usability tests to evaluate designs for efficiency and effectiveness.
Flexible Working Hours
One of a few job roles that provide its workers with flex hours, working as a User Experience Designer offers you the ability to schedule your work around your other obligations. If you’re a parent or have another equally important (and time-consuming) role in your life, it can be difficult to find a job that allows you to make ends meet while staying true to your familial and/or professional responsibilities. Being able to set up shop wherever and whenever suits your needs is extremely convenient for parents; consider it one of many reasons why there’s no better time than now for them to enter (or re-enter) the workforce. As far as flexible work goes, user experience design might just be one of the most promising industries for new parents seeking employment.
