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My name is Behrad and I’ve been active in the Startup and UX scene for over the past 10 years. In our previous article, Senior UX Designer VS Junior UX Designer we spoke about the difference between a senior and junior designer. In this article, I’m going to zoom in on a few tips which I think they’re pivotal to growing your career as a UX Designer.
TIP 1:
QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE > YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
It doesn’t matter how much money you make or what title you have. It really doesn’t matter in the long run. In the long run, you can only invest in craftsmanship. The substance of your experience matters at the end.
Those who go after money or title, they forgot to include one essential factor: their own needs. You look up and look back some years into your career, sitting at the office of a big company and enjoying a fancy title. But still thinking about that cool startup offer you received a few years ago.
If I were you, I’d go to work only on interesting projects. I’d work for free if I have to. I’d get involved in projects that deal with future technologies such as Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Voice technology. Seize the team especially if you’re in your 20s and gain as much experience as possible. Don’t worry. You have time. There’s a whole 30s ahead of you.
TIP 2
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS FAILURE. THERE ARE ONLY FEEDBACKS.
We grow up in a culture that we've feared of being seen as a failure. Especially in the field of design and UX design, fear of failure is the primary cause of so many UX designers stagnating in their careers. They find a comfy spot and live there as long as possible.
Failure is such a rich resource for knowledge and wisdom. You can leapfrog a few steps in your professional growth if you manage to learn from your failure. Upgrading your mindset in such a way allows you to crave for more projects, social interactions, and plain failures. This is a game-changer.
When you look at failure as mere feedback loops by which you can improve your performance, then you criticize yourself less harshly as well. You allow yourself to experiment and be easy going with committing to new projects.
Feedback is critical to improving performance.
Feedback reduces your learning curve and helps you avoid repetitive mistakes sooner. Learning and listening to constructive feedback can give you an understanding of how to produce better decisions and improve performance.
Feedback is about active listening, taking the time to analyze, and then thinking of the best possible solution to perform better. When you actively listen to someone and wholeheartedly try to understand their point, then you already deepen your bonds with them.
TIP 3
DON'T TAKE ADVICE FROM NO ONE. CHALLENGE THEM TO ASK YOU SMART QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY
When you ask for advice, all you hear about would be about her journey and how she handled her challenges. That’s beneficial but less valuable than if she focuses on your journey and challenges your decisions by asking smart questions.
When you look for questions rather than advice, you project confidence as well. You send this message that I can handle my own situation, but, I’d benefit from receiving smart feedback.
Another benefit of the question is that it’s a starting point for a bigger inquiry. A burning question is an arrow that gives you a sense of direction by which you can discover new paths.
Thank you for being here. In case you find this article useful, don’t forget to write us an email and share your thoughts with us.
Also, we have a UX Career Mentorship. It's a year-long program that you should not miss.
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