Hey! We’re glad you’re here. Getting a job and moving up in your career can feel tricky, right? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the resume and portfolio updates, the pressure of interviewing, and the weight of growing and showing off your skillset to peers and superiors.
Don’t worry. Over the years, the UX professionals at Indeed have shared lots of helpful advice about how to get into UX, apply for UX jobs, and settle into a new job. We can’t guarantee you’ll get a new job after reading, and we don’t have any secrets to help you land your dream salary overnight. But we stand behind the hard-earned lessons from the people on our user experience teams.
So read on if you’re:
- Jumping into UX from another career
- Struggling with interviews or practice assessments
- Improving your portfolio
- Learning to tell better stories
- Looking to make an impact on a new team
Switching careers into UX is about transferrable skills
9 Lessons from My Switch to a Career in UX
Li Shao knew nothing about writing code when her brother shared a logic problem with her. It could have been just a fun brain teaser, but Shao became fascinated by using code to solve practical problems. When she realized that answering these questions could be her full-time job, Shao decided to switch from math teacher to UX developer. Here, she shares some of what she learned from making that transition.
Agency Designers Have UX Superpowers
Designers transitioning from agency work to product teams often come up against hiring committees so focused on specific experiences that they fail to see the individual’s strengths. Ingrid Elias, a senior UX Designer at Indeed, argues that agency designers bring a deep set of skills that apply to a broad range of problems. Read her insights on building from that foundation to find solutions more quickly.
Failing Into Tech and Content Design
Not everyone has the smoothest transition into a UX career. That’s OK. It’s common to experience rejection, feel discouraged by feedback, and wonder if you’re on the right track. In her article, Content Designer Stephanie Ogburn offers some reassurance that failure is normal when jumping into UX, and no single failure or rejection will mark the end of your story.
What I Learned Switching Careers from Taxonomy to Content Design
You’ll face many types of challenges when you transition into a new field, but those can help you understand what support you’ll need along the way. From building a portfolio to getting the right feedback and even your own self-doubt, your plan to switch careers comes with quite a few hurdles. Yohta Shimizu reflects on his story and notes a few pointers he found helpful when he became a UX content designer.
Why Former Academics Make Great UX Pros
A love for learning and helping others isn’t limited to teachers. It turns out that skills like research, writing, presenting, and assisting people to reach their goals are the same ones many UX professionals use in their work. Learn how many of Indeed’s UX professionals pivoted from academia to tech, why they made the switch, and what surprised them most about working in a new field.
Before you apply, make the most of your portfolio
The Art of Storytelling for Case Studies
Whether you’re presenting to a hiring committee or sharing with your team, case studies are a key part of many UX roles. But case studies can be challenging to write and (let’s be honest) often dull to sit through. Instead of a dry list of events, Senior UX Designer Ingid Elias suggests borrowing a page from storytellers to write a case study as compelling as a best-selling novel.
UX Design Portfolio Advice from Hiring Managers
A stellar portfolio is the most critical part of a UX designer’s job application. It’s your chance to show off your achievements and mastery of UX fundamentals. Six members of Indeed’s UX management team share their advice for fine-tuning your portfolio to highlight your superpowers and ultimately land the job.
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What I Look for in a UX Take-Home
Job candidates often find take-home assignments one of the most frustrating parts of the interview process. But, like it or not, these exercises are here to stay. One of Indeed’s hiring managers argues that take-home exercises are essential to finding the best candidates. The best part? She offers insights on how to use them to your advantage.
UX Interview Advice from Hiring Managers
Interviewing for a new job is stressful. It can be tough to quiet your nerves, gather your confidence and present yourself in the best possible light. According to some of the UX hiring managers at Indeed, the secret to nailing the interview is to follow the three Rs: research, rehearse, and relax.
Show your new team what you’re made of
Setting Yourself Up for Success on a New Team
Starting a new job is a big transition. There’s pressure to perform, expectations to meet—and so many names to remember. The secret to a great beginning lies in a combination of preparation, communication, and a hearty dose of organizational skills.
10 Tips for Working Asynchronously
So all your teammates start their days from different time zones? Staying focused and connected to your co-workers can be challenging. But it doesn’t have to be. Small adjustments to how you collaborate, remain flexible, and communicate can make working asynchronously more productive and rewarding.
