Once you start working in the field of user experience design, how long does it take to move from Junior UX Designer to Senior? That depends not only upon your skills as a Designer, but also on your dedication to improvement, your communication skills, and your reliability and dependability.
Make a Plan
In order to progress in your career as a UX Designer, you will need to make a plan. First, you need to understand the different levels of responsibility between junior designers and higher-level positions. What separates a Junior and a Senior UX Designer? Senior Designers take on more responsibility, are able to prioritize and plan, and seniors can see the big picture of the design process. They also need to be able to communicate well with clients and colleagues, perform roles in multiple projects, and delegate where needed.
UX Design Career Path
Junior UX Designer
- 0 to 3 years of experience
- Just out of training
- Knowledgeable in concepts of design
Mid Level Designer
- 3 to 6 years of experience
- Proficient in design tools and fundamentals
- More responsibility for projects
Senior Designer
- 6 to10 years of experience
- Expert at UX and tools
- Own all projects
- Mentor other designers
Team Lead
- 6 to 10 years of experience,
- Excellent communication skills
- Works with stakeholders and customers
- Strategize plans
UX Manager
- 6 to 10 years of experience
- Influences the design process
- Develops strategy
- Delegates tasks
Principal Designer
- 10+ years of experience
- Deep knowledge of UX principles and procedures
- Lead on projects
- Initialize new ideas in the field
- Mentor to leads
UX Director
- 10+ years of experience
- In charge of UX design for the company
- Communicates with clients
Leveling Up
In order to move up in your UX design career, you need to work on your skills. One way to do that is to dig deeper into the field of UX design, work on your communication skills, and build your reputation for dependability and competence.
Become a Life-long Learner
You may have landed your first UX design job, but that doesn’t mean you stop learning. If you want to progress along your career path, you need to work on building new skills and improving those you already have. Educate yourself by reading articles, listening to podcasts, and attending design conferences. Get used to constantly learning
Discover Your Weaknesses and Improve upon Them
Before you can progress, you need to identify what might hold you back. Take an honest look at your skill set, and if you need more input, ask a trusted colleague to tell you where you are weakest. And this doesn’t go only for design skills. Interpersonal skills are important, too. You are more likely to be promoted if you meet your deadlines reliably and follow through on what you say you will do. Keep your team members informed of your progress and if you are having a problem, give the team a warning that your portion may be late and ask for help.
Become Familiar with Foundational Concepts and Principles of Design
Just because you aren’t in school anymore doesn’t mean you can leave what you learned behind. Make a point of focusing on the principles of good UX design and gaining a deeper understanding of them.
Principles of UX Design
- Visibility
- Feedback
- Limited choices
- Clear mapping
- Consistency
- Affordance
Improving your other skills will also help you gain a promotion. Some design-related areas to work on are:
- Project management
- Group Facilitation
- Writing
- Public Speaking
- Visual Design
- Data Analysis/analytics
- Data visualization
- Market research
- Content strategy
- Instructional design
Other skills that you should pay attention to are::
- Communication
- Empathy
- Listening
- Teamwork/collaboration
- Problem-solving
- Design
- Technical expertise
- Business understanding
Build a Strong Portfolio
A strong portfolio is the best way to showcase your abilities as a UX Designer. This hands-on collection of work demonstrates your design philosophy and past work. Ideally, you should choose three to five examples of your best work.
Feel free to express your creativity when creating or updating your portfolio; that is part of what being a Designer is all about. That said, most UX design portfolios include three basic sections: a personal introduction, a collection of case studies, and contact information.
You can organize the portfolio however you like. Some people choose to have a landing page with links to different sections, while others prefer everything on one page with clickable ‘read more’ buttons. However you choose to set up your portfolio, be sure to maintain consistency in layout and visual elements. It is also a good idea to use a photo or logo at the top of the page. This will be the first thing visitors to your page see, so it should be attractive and eye-catching.
The next section shows your work. Some people use logos from companies they have worked for and others use high-quality images from past work as entry points for case studies. Include a summary of the project and what you did next to the image. It is becoming more common to include gifs and videos in portfolios to catch the attention of recruiters and hiring managers. A short video introduction can be a good attention getter, as is a video montage of different work.
Above all, be sure that your portfolio reflects your best. Use examples of the best work you have done with the highest quality images. Make sure that there are no spelling or punctuation errors because this is a sign of sloppy work.
Find a Mentor
If you need some extra help updating your portfolio or building skills, another helpful tip is to find a mentor. This is a more experienced person who has worked in UX design for a while. Having someone to turn to if you need to ask a question, get feedback on a portfolio or design, or are looking for career information, can be highly beneficial.
The connection between a mentor and their mentee is a relationship and like any relationship, it evolves over time. It starts out more formal and if the fit is right, becomes more like a pleasant business connection or even a friendship. Like any relationship, mentorship needs to be fostered to build trust. You wouldn’t walk up to a stranger and just start pouring your heart out, so you don’t want to do that with someone you would like to have as a mentor, either. So how do you find a mentor?
Use the Design Network
Hopefully, you have joined one of the online design communities like LinkedIn, X (formerly known as Twitter), Dribbble, Medium, YouTube, or Instagram by now. Reach out to designers whose work you like and ask questions. Start off by asking for advice, but don’t jump right in by asking them to be your mentor. The best mentorship is between people who have a relationship, so find a person you think has something to teach you and approach them via comments or email. Be succinct and respectful and don’t expect an immediate response. Professionals are busy and many tend to schedule responding to correspondence weekly or even monthly, so don’t snap back in a few days if you don’t hear anything. Be patient.
Build a Rapport
Once you have established a relationship and have been in contact with a person who you think would make a good mentor, you can reach out and ask them, but keep in mind that they might say no. In this case, have a backup plan such as asking if they could give you some direction or ideas where to find more guidance.
Work on Your Communication Skills
Being able to communicate smoothly with colleagues and stakeholders is a skill that Senior UX Designers need to navigate business relationships. You need to be able to listen to clients, asking questions in a diplomatic way if what they are telling you is unclear. You also need to have the experience and confidence to tell the customer what they really need, if that isn’t what they are asking for. Senior Designers also need to be able to listen to feedback, positive and negative, from clients and make changes that are necessary without feeling resentful or defensive.
Become Independent
As your experience in UX design grows, you should become more independent. To progress in your career, you need to be able to work on projects on your own and to deliver them in a timely fashion. While it is fine to ask questions, you need to have the confidence to stand on your own and even to help others.
Brush up on Your UX Design Skills
If you would like to refresh your design knowledge or to learn about the latest tools like Adobe XD, Sketch, or Figma, one of the best ways to do that is to sign up for classes. You can choose classes that meet in-person or online to learn XD, Photoshop, Illustrator and more. Some people prefer to attend brick-and-mortar sessions when learning new information, but that isn’t always available. Live online classes have a similar set-up with a real-time, remote instructor who can answer questions and take control of your monitor—with permission—to show you how to do things. Training is part or full-time and available weekdays, weeknights, or weekends.
The best way to prepare for a career shift to a field like UX design is to enroll in a bootcamp or certificate program. These are intensive training courses that run from a few weeks to a few months and will cover the design process and software in much more depth than tutorials can. Another plus of training is that you will leave class with a professional-quality portfolio that you can show to prospective employers.
Conclusion
It’s easy to take UX design classes and start a new career. Choose between in-person sessions in NYC at Noble’s location or sign up for live online UX design coursesand attend from anywhere. Find UX bootcamps in your area and get started in a new direction today.