What do you do if you're seeking guidance in your User Experience Design (UED) career?

Seek out a mentor and reach out to others who are currently in the role that you are aspiring for. These individuals can form your "personal board of directors" that can help you identify opportunities and hold your feet to the fire. Also be sure to create your own personal "career roadmap" and develop a few OKRs for yourself. No one cares more about your career than you, so it's best to be proactive and set goals/milestones first -- to these, your "board" can hold you accountable.

Explore online platforms and forums dedicated to UX design, such as LinkedIn groups, UX design subreddits, or UX design communities on platforms like Slack or Discord. Engage with members, participate in discussions, and look for individuals who demonstrate expertise and a willingness to mentor others.

Ideally this support for your professional growth should be locally and on your team, that's the way that experiential practices have always historically supported new talent. For too many reasons to go into here, there isn't the local senior resource available so it's understandable to seek external support. Caveat emptor! There are lots of aspirational mentors with limited experience and narrow horizons, using it as a status badge. These are low value and a distraction. Find mentors with extensive practitioner experience, not leadership. The support you need won't come from ideation, it will come from actual experience - and lots of varied experience. Find mentors with an excellent UED practitioner experience and validate it all.

Seeking guidance in your UX design career involves researching the field, networking with other professionals, finding a mentor, continuing education, building a strong portfolio, seeking feedback, and setting goals. By engaging in these activities, you can gain valuable insights, improve your skills, and advance your career in UX design.

User experience design is a vast field, it deals with lots of uncertain situations and demands learning + updating of knowledge. It is best to expand skills which are valuable and add to our skills. I first started by Scratching surface of ux, and I am still learning the deeper layers in this field. So learning is a constant process in UX field, be curious, stay updated and learn every day.

The best way to expand your skills is in active, supported practice on real live projects. There is no substitute unfortunately, at least for rapid growth. Conferences are an excellent source of education for continued professional development and my preference. Psychology underpins my entire UX practice, so getting hold of an introductory academic text (i.e. Psych 101 stuff) is easy, cheap and highly valuable. Be careful of social media for education - there's a lot of misinformation on places like Medium, and YouTube. They have huge followings but the content is not coming from a place of experience. Try out new methods on your actual projects, just do it safely and ideally with senior support. Pilot test everything.

Consider expanding your skills repertoire. Continuously learning new tools, methodologies, and techniques not only enriches your knowledge but also opens doors to diverse opportunities within the field. Whether it's mastering prototyping software, delving into UX research methodologies, or honing your coding skills, investing in skill expansion broadens your expertise and enhances your marketability. Embrace a mindset of lifelong learning and growth, seizing every opportunity to develop new skills and stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of UED.

To stay afloat and navigate effectively, we need to be constantly honing our skills and keeping an eye out for the latest tools, trends, and methodologies. This way, we can ensure our designs are not only user-centered but also leverage the newest advancements in the field to create truly exceptional user experiences.

User Experience Design is a dynamic field that requires continuous learning and adaptation. Engaging in online courses, attending workshops, or obtaining certifications can offer valuable insights into emerging trends and best practices. Investing time in education expands your skill set and shows a dedication to professional growth.

Networking is great. It allows you to expand your network, open new possibilities and improve your personal brand. But more than anything it should be useful to inspire you and make you grow. Focus on where would you like to be in 3-5 years from now and surround yourself with people that are already there, and with people that want to get there like you. Remember: you wanna go fast? Go alone. You wanna go solid and long term? Go together ;)

-> If you studied UX design at a university or participated in a bootcamp or training program, consider tapping into alumni networks for mentorship opportunities. Alumni who have advanced in their careers may be willing to mentor current students or recent graduates. -> Attend UX design conferences, meetups, and networking events to connect with professionals in the field. Take advantage of opportunities to meet speakers, panelists, and other attendees who may be willing to offer mentorship or guidance.

By attending industry events, conferences, and online communities, can connect with other designers, share ideas, and learn from their experiences. This not only helps me stay up-to-date on trends but also opens doors to potential collaborations and job opportunities. Plus, being actively involved in the UX community allows me to build genuine connections – after all, the best design solutions often come from teamwork and bouncing ideas off like-minded individuals.

Engage with fellow UX professionals, attend industry events, join online communities, and participate in networking opportunities to expand your professional circle. Networking can lead to valuable connections, job opportunities, and collaborative projects that enrich your UED career.

Totalmente de acuerdo con la importancia del networking activo, especialmente en campos tan dinámicos y en constante evolución como el Dise?o de Experiencia de Usuario. Conectar no solo abre puertas a nuevas oportunidades laborales y proyectos colaborativos, sino que también es una fuente inestimable de inspiración y un caldo de cultivo para las ideas innovadoras. Las ideas para mi son enlaces de ideas previas y conceptos ya apropiados, el intercambio de experiencias y conocimientos con personas de mentalidad similar puede ser el detonante para soluciones creativas a los desafíos comunes que enfrentamos. Sin duda, el networking es una herramienta poderosa para el crecimiento profesional y la innovación en UED

Here's something you won't hear elsewhere because nobody will admit it. Those fancy magazine-looking case studies are terrible. They are hard to read and nobody actually bothers. If you have huge images that you have to precision scroll to fit within the screen, or if you have layouts that require the eye to jump around, then I'm going to assume you have confused UX with visual design.

A strong portfolio showcases your problem-solving abilities, design thinking process, and most importantly, the user-centered solutions you've created. By carefully curating projects that demonstrate your diverse skillset and the positive impact of your designs, you can turn your portfolio into a powerful tool that lands you that dream UX design job.

In my experience, I have learned the vital importance of maintaining an updated and impactful portfolio as a User Experience Design (UED) professional. My portfolio not only showcases my best work, but also reflects my design process and problem-solving skills. By regularly updating it with new projects, I aim to ensure that it is an accurate representation of my knowledge and breadth of experience in the field of UED. I recognize that a strong portfolio can be the deciding factor in landing my next job or client, and so I dedicate time and effort to ensuring it is visually appealing, informative, and effectively reflects my work style and accomplishments.

I would suggest that you take a problem that is close to you, and try solve it using the skills you have learnt. It is important in your portfolio/journey to document your learnings, and how you have adapted them to the solution you propose.

Create a portfolio as any other product. Who is going to read it? Who are you going to send it? Is it for a job, a client, a project? I’ve heard and read all kind of things about a portfolio and still think that nobody knows the perfect recipe. Ideally, Build different portfolios for different roles. Problem with portfolios is that you won’t be able to update it frequently with examples of your experience for confidential reasons. So you probably won’t be able to upload best work. Do your best and good luck :)

I have not encountered this myself, but I have heard reports of younger designers literally crying when they received negative feedback. Not mean feedback, just a callout of things that need to be changed. If you can't take feedback without getting emotional, you aren't cut out for the industry. I'd go a step further and say if you can't take HARSH feedback without getting emotional, you aren't cut out for the industry. Toughen up. The world isn't a nursery.

As I am beginning my career in UX, I have embraced feedback with open arms. I do absorb the ones that I feel are most relevant. Feedback is such a crucial step in any process, be it UX, hospitality, retail, banking, all rely heavily on feedback. Also a major component of research is to gather feedback, or when one performs usability testing, what are we looking for.... and you guessed it correctly... its......FEEDBACK! This step is most important in any stage of your career not just the beginning, but, it's necessary to absorb the feedback that helps you and let go of the irrelevant ones.

Receiving feedback that is constructive is important as this is what enables you to grow as a user experience designer. Try filter out any emotion that may come from feedback and focus on the substance rather than the form. It will enable you to build a roadmap on where you want to go &what you want to fix

Trigger warning: clichés ahead, but they exist with good reason. “Ego kills design”. Be ready to kill your darlings. “There is no failing, only winning or learning”. Users may not be great at telling you what they want, but they're quite good at telling you what they don't. Listen, and let it ferment. Which doesn't mean rip everything up every three days. Design strategy is just as much what you aren't willing to do, as what you are. Let the best ideas win - it's OK if not all of them are yours! Remember: “You are not the user”. Design is an art, but it's not “Art” - it must first and foremost be functional. Ambiguity does not elevate Design. There is ZERO point in having an incredible page 20 when nobody knows how or why to get there.

En mi país hay un dicho que dice que la “curiosidad mató al gato” pero no se si esto sea cierto, tal vez ser curioso le ayudó a encontrar la fórmula para tener nueve vidas. La curiosidad es, sin duda, el motor que impulsa la innovación . Este impulso por explorar y cuestionar el status quo no solo mantiene nuestra carrera vibrante y apasionante, sino que también asegura que estamos siempre un paso adelante, preparados para moldear el futuro.

New tools are coming out all the time, along with new updates. It's best to stay on top of it and to keep learning. Learning is also an opportunity to work with others and gain more mentorship.

Maintain a curious mindset and stay abreast of emerging trends, best practices, and innovations in UX design. Cultivate a habit of curiosity by exploring diverse sources of inspiration, experimenting with new ideas, and embracing challenges as learning opportunities.

Design is a process, and so is growth. To grow however, a designer has to be curious. This way, designers can learn new skills, get new challenges, get more inspiration, engage new communities and get better over time.

Curiosity is one of the things that keep us moving forward, because its also a feeling that is sinonimous to learning. We keep learning to improve or personal growth, to help us not just in our work but also our personal lives.

El Dise?o de Experiencia de Usuario es esencial en la interacción contemporánea entre humanos y tecnología, mejorando significativamente la accesibilidad, usabilidad y satisfacción del usuario. Al enfocarse en las necesidades reales de las personas, el UX no solo facilita el uso de productos y servicios digitales, sino que también promueve la inclusión y la igualdad de acceso. y si lo pensamos bien, es un motor para la innovación social, fortaleciendo la confianza en la tecnología. En esencia, el UED es fundamental para crear un futuro más humano, inclusivo y ético.

It's always a good idea to establish what other people's perception of UX actually is, because there is so much variance. If you want to learn and grow in the right direction, any learning needs to be contextualised to a common or agreed definition of what UX is. This will really help you build your knowledge around central principles, and in turn that will make you a better UXer on every level. The alternative is to try to reconcile different knowledge with different perspectives on UX, and it's really difficult and stressful. Ensure you've got a solid UX definition and use it as the north star to guide your professional development.

Stay away from companies with immature design sensibilities or organizations - or worse yet, Companies that do not value their users experiences. You’ll regret the experience and learn little from a place that does not really value your skills or contributions.

Feeling lost in UX design? No worries! Here's a roadmap: Refine your skills: Focus on areas that excite you - research, prototyping, or visual design? Take courses or join workshops to level up. Build your network: Connect with other UX folks online and offline. Attend meetups, follow thought leaders, and participate in discussions. Showcase your work: Create a strong portfolio that highlights your process and best projects. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there!

Remember that the most successful products are designed from the customer perspective backwards. Focusing on how a technology, feature or capability can be sold as a product rather than what outcomes or solutions are being provided to customers is the wrong approach. You see this success of this method by the iPhone killing Lan lines. Netflix ending late fees, Amazon removing the hassel of shopping and Facebook removing distance as a barrier for human connection.