Do you have what it takes for a career in UX?
We analysed what UX employers valued and came up with 6 important personal attributes that make up the DNA of a good UX designer.
Take our 12 question UX quiz below to see if you have the foundations of a good UX designer.
UX Career Quiz
Important attributes of a UX Designer
Empathetic
Empathy is important for UX researchers to build trust and rapport with the people you encounter. According to Indi Young, listening is an emotional process that allows you to demonstrate warmth, human support, and clarity of direction to the participant. It can really help you understand user’s perspectives in their problem space.
If you didn’t score high on this scale the good news is that we are all born with the capacity for empathy, but it's learned behaviour (according to Psychology Today). Whilst more natural to some people, this is something you can learn and hone with experience in the field.
Curious
Curiosity is the thing that drives you to understand your users, the business and all of their issues, needs and pain points. Curiosity is a fundamental human trait and UXers use it get to the bottom of the problems that plague us online and in life. Not so curious? I am sure you are, but maybe about different things.
Think about the last time you worked at a mystery whether in a video game or a mechanical problem. You’re curious and need to guide your UX career towards the things you are curious about. UX work is beginning to touch all sorts of industries and products and there is something out there that is your jam.
Analytical
Seeing patterns comes naturally to us, and digging deep into all of that data and looking for those commonalities, those stories, is one of the great rewards of UX life. Then drawing it out and being able to share it with others is one of the others. Not a lot of jobs let you regularly share ‘ah-hah! moments.
Score low here? Maybe your main exposure is to only one type of data? Maybe you are better with qualitative data than you are with quantitative data. Use you natural preferences to get started and learn the other over time.
Problem Solver
Problem solving is a big part of what UXers do! It is the other side of what all that research and testing uncovers, the problems. It is also the often the fun part for many UXers, especially when working collaboratively with a team or users.
If you find the idea of creatively working to solve problems daunting, don’t fear, the UX and CX space is full of fantastic methods and processes to make the problem solving fun, exciting and is rarely a solo affair. You don’t need to be problem solving genius, you just have to work with people like you.
Collaborative
Collaboration is the cornerstone of the UXer experience. While there will be times you are working alone, head stuffed into data or on the road to conduct user research there is just as much time spent working with other UXers, designers, developers and business analysts not to mention the users themselves. Working alone might get things done, but bringing your team and stakeholders on the journey is critical to success.
Prefer to work alone? Get introvert-exhausted by all of those extroverts? Don’t worry, there is enough solo time to satisfy you but the real reward is that moment when the client ‘gets it’ and you see it on their face. Trust us, it is worth it.
Engaging and Persuasive
A surprising part of UX involves engaging and persuading stakeholders and helping them understand the customers’ perspective backed by evidence and intuition. You are often armed with the products of your research and design activities and need to communicate these to an audience who have a lot of competing priorities. You will need to write, present and discuss; know when to stand and when to compromise.
Terrified of public speaking? Once you have the data to back you up you will often find your confidence as you are just the messenger – the voice of the customer.
What now?
We would love the opportunity to discuss your results in a 45min Career Discovery Call where we will look at your scores and discuss what other transferrable skills you have and what you need to learn.