3 Tips That Helped Me Grow in My Own Career

There are a lot of articles or posts out there about the differences between being a Junior and Senior UX Designer. However, they all just highlight the differences, they don't explain how to grow into the next level.

A lot of that does come with trial and error and with experiences.

But, reflecting on my career recently, I noticed there were three skillsets that stood out to me as ways I have grown in my career.

1. Be Adaptive

As a UX Designer we work with a number of other disciplines. This can mean Engineers, Project Managers, and Stakeholders, just to name a few.

Being on a collaborative team means that other disciplines will also have ideas about the design or solution at hand.

What I have learned is it is vital to not always say no and shoot their ideas down even when there are concerns from a user or best practice stand point. We obviously need to always have our user and best practices in mind, but hearing others out is important for two reasons.

The first, it creates a better team environment. When someone feels heard and respected, they will be more willing to be collaborative. That is why it is important to always make it a conversation, rather than a one sided statement.

And the other reason is that we can sometimes get caught up in our ideas and forget to think outside the box. Having a new set of eyes or opinions can help spark an even better solution.

I've learned that this skill has helped me gain more respect in conversations.

2. Present the Why's

Early on in my career during a design review, I would jump right into my new proposed solution. Once I would finish presenting my ideas, I would be met with a number of questions around why I was doing this and how it would be better than what was currently there.

What I noticed was that those in the room were not necessarily aware of the current design. The reason being, those outside the design team don't live in the screens 24/7 like we do.

I know that sounds like common sense, but I find this is something we often forget.

That is why I started changing my approach. Instead of jumping right into my designs I switched to starting with context of what it looked like currently and why there was an ask to change it.

As well as, to starting the review with the specifics of what I was asking for feedback on. For example, if I was only asking for feedback about a certain part of the flow I would call that out in the first few minutes. This way, you are ultimately keeping the conversation on track.

By doing all this, I set my audience up for success rather than having to walk backwards. This way, you are ultimately considering the pain points of those around you and creating a process that is effective for them.

3. Think about the Big Picture

One of the biggest changes I have made in my approach is thinking about how my design decisions will effect the larger product at hand, rather than just that one flow or feature.

By expanding the breadth, it encourages you to think more about the strategy of the product, rather than just the designs.

This one may be harder for some as it will depend on the visibility your role has.

But, I would still encourage you to try and speak up when you can. This way you can slowly carve that path for yourself.

By no means are these three areas the be all end all for how to become a more Senior Designer! There is no one straight path to it, and I believe that is a good thing.

My only goal here was to explain what has helped me grow in the hope that it will help you too. Even if that means following these steps as they are or adapting them to your own process!