Five Ux Strategies

5 strategies to help kick-start your

UX CAREER BY ROBERT SMITH

Figuring out how to begin a UX career can be really confusing, but luckily for you, I am about to give you 5 actionable strategies that you can start applying today. Ready? Let’s go get it!

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SET A SPECIFIC, SHORT TERM CAREER GOAL

In order to know what to focus your efforts on now, you need to know where you want to be in the future. I recommend setting a short 3-6 month career goal that you can work toward. This is essentially a roadmap that will inform all your efforts over the next few months and force you to think specifically about where you want to be in your UX career. Planning further in advance (1, 5 or even 10 years) can be useful, but our circumstances can change and so a 3-6 month time frame is often more relevant and realistic in terms of goal setting.

Start mapping out what you are aiming for, this could include: The skills you want to have learnt and developed The sort of companies you would like to be working for The sort of projects you would like to be involved in Your specific role (user research, design etc) The sort of salary you would like

This will now become your point of reference and inform your decision making. So for example, when it comes time to start reaching out to recruiters and companies, you will have a clearer understanding of what you are looking for.

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INVEST IN AN ONLINE COURSE

This is something I wish I had done sooner when I was starting out in my career. A lot of what i’ve learnt is by trying (and failing) multiple times in real world scenarios. This approach has worked for me, but I don’t recommend it because it’s the slow lane to success. If you haven’t already, I recommend you invest in a reasonably priced online course or subscribe to an organisation that gives you access to a number of courses. Nothing is better to understand the basics of UX or to learn specific UX skills, than having someone teach you and guide you through a learning experience, step by step.

Books, blog posts and YouTube videos are great too, but if you want a solid, process driven understanding, then I recommend you take an online course. I suggest you check out The Interaction Design Foundation https://www.interaction-design.org/ they have a number of extremely detailed and high quality courses you take for an annual cost of approx $100.

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LEVERAGE YOUR EXISTING NETWORK FOR PROJECTS

Right now you are probably in a difficult situation: you are looking to break into UX and consequently employers want to see a portfolio but how the hell are you supposed build a portfolio without a job? To get started I recommend you contact friends, family or anyone in your local community or local business network and reach out with your services. Be honest and explain your situation, that you are just starting out and looking to gain experience, but don’t undersell yourself either. Perhaps it’s a local charity or community initiative that needs help with attracting donations online? Or perhaps it’s a friend of someone you already work with who runs a small business and wants help to improve their online sales process?

Try and find individuals or organisations with challenges that interest you and think of ways you could approach them to sell or volunteer your UX services. Before long, you should have worked on some projects which you can use to start creating a portfolio.

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BUILD AN MVP (MINIMUM VIABLE PORTFOLIO)

A Minimum Viable Portfolio, just like a Minimum Viable Product, is a portfolio that is just good enough. It’s not spectacular, but it’s enough. The purpose of an MVP is to create a simple, online platform on which you can start demonstrating your skills and experience to potential employers. There’s a common misconception that you need a large number of projects to build a portfolio, and while a broad and varied selection can be impressive, you can still create a portfolio that gets you noticed with just 2-3 pieces of work.

YO U R M V P S H O U L D I N C L U D E T H E F O L LOW I N G :

CASE STUDIES: 2-3 well written, descriptive case studies that showcase your skills and demonstrate your process YOUR STORY: Tell potential employers about who you are, where you have come from and what makes you unique. BLOG: Your blog will be your place that you can share unique content with your audience that you have written or curated. It’s never too early to start building your credibility. 5 S T R AT E G I E S T O H E L P K I C K - S TA R T Y O U R U X C A R E E R

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START REACHING OUT

It’s never too early to start taking action and putting yourself out there. Once you’ve created your MVP, the next step is to start making a list of all the organisations that you would like to work with and start introducing yourself. The purpose of this step isn’t so much to start applying formally for jobs (although you could do that if you felt you were ready) but more to just put yourself out there and get on the radar of organisations in your city or local community. This is going to help you build a rapport with organisations for the future, so when it does come time to apply for jobs or formally introduce yourself, they will already have an awareness of you and be more receptive to your approach.

I also recommend you take this approach to recruiters too, as they often work exclusively with companies when it comes to their recruitment. They should also have an in-depth knowledge of the industry (although some don’t) and be able to give you help and advice along the way when it comes time to start your official job hunt.

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the author ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Smith is a UX consultant based in London, U.K Over the past 8+ years he’s worked with a rich variety of clients from early stage startups to FTSE 100 companies, where he has helped them accomplish everything from prototyping MVPs to implementing successful UX strategies. Not only does he love UX, but he’s also passionate about teaching others and has a growing YouTube channel and following.

YOUTUBE.COM/ROBERTSMITH

TWITTER.COM/ROBERTSMITH_CO

ROBERTSMITH.CO

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