UX Designers are an integral part of organizations through their user research and design development. So if you have a zeal for technology, creativity, and curiosity about design, this guide will help you customize your resume to apply to many UX jobs.
First, let’s get started by looking at the three resume formats, one of which you will use to create your UX designer resume.
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Job Duties of a UX Designer
The position of a UX designer calls for an analytical and creative mind capable of comprehending user needs and solving their problems. They are responsible for curating interactive programs using digital and web media forms that eventually amplify customer experience. There are several other essential duties professionals in this category have to undertake as a part of their routine tasks. They are:
Planning and performing user research and competitor analysis.
Collaborating with the product team to decipher research questions.
Working closely with developers and other designers to develop intuitive, user-friendly software.
Conducting user surveys and interviews for interpreting data and qualitative feedback.
Creating prototypes and wireframes based on customer requirements.
Creating style guides, design systems, and easy-to-understand user interfaces.
Using design software including Sketch, Adobe, Omnigraffle, Keynote/PPT to create IxDA artifacts, Photoshop and Illustrator or Sketch.
Upgrading user experience by generating coherent navigation via different digital programs and interfaces in the organization.
Understanding branding expectations through user experience.
Understanding cultural and language differences and expectations depending on the job.
Working in agile and other types of production environments.
Designing for mobile platforms including Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
Attending professional conferences and industry meetings.
UX Designer Median Salaries
According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, web development and digital designing professionals, including UX designers, earn a median salary of $73,760 annually. Further, UX Planet, a web designing platform based on the different position levels, has given the following details of the average salary of a UX designer in the U.S.:
New candidates with less than a year of experience get paid $62,558.
People with UX experience between one to four years earn approximately $71,258.
Mid-level to Senior UX Designers with five to nine years experience earn $83,519.
Senior UX designers with 10-19 years of experience have a salary of $94,893.
Top Skills for UX Designers
This career requires you to have research and design skills while also being tech-savvy and knowledgeable in human psychology. Being a UX designer means you must master many different skills to be successful. Let’s take a look at the top skills recruiters expect candidates to have:
- Design skills. A UX designer’s primary responsibility is to create design flows and user experiences that are simple to understand and give off an elegant vibe for a company’s software, website, and mobile applications. Nowadays, with the steady increase in smartphone users, it’s becoming more common for UX designers to master mobile design more so than desktop design. Most top UX designers need to master graphic design or have at least strong knowledge of design theory. Also, an eye for detail and good aesthetic taste is essential for this role.
- Wireframing and prototyping. To be a UX designer, you’ll need to become a pro at wireframing and prototyping using various software such as InVision, Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch, Balsamiq, among others. Prototyping is creating a simple version of your proposed model for experimental purposes. Prototyping can be done anywhere in the scale between low-fidelity and high-fidelity. Fidelity here means “like the final product.” The lower the fidelity, the less like the finished product the prototype will be. Low fidelity prototypes are the second step in the design process, following the creation of the design. This step is necessary to test the functionality of the plan before getting it built by developers.
Similarly, wireframing is part of the validation process of a design. It offers designers a clear view of the basic structure of a project before the visual design and content get added. Both steps are crucial to test, troubleshoot, and validate the design. - User research and data analysis. Part of a UX designer’s responsibility is to test the design with users. This research aims to test the usability and quality of the design. Qualitative and quantitative user research is central to creating a successful user experience because it determines the customer journey. In other words, you aim to understand their needs and address them in your design. Useful websites to become familiar with for this purpose are UserTesting, UsabilityHub, and FullStory. These websites allow you to research user behavior, triggers, and data signals. However, it’s essential to know how to analyze the data you gather. Without sound analysis and visualization skills, you won’t translate the collected data into design alterations to improve the user experience. Applying your analytical skills to data is a must for any aspiring UX designer.
- UX trend awareness. User experience design processes, principles, and even best practices experience rapid growth and changes so you must be aware of the latest trends for your company to benefit from them. It’s essential to be on the cutting-edge of these innovations because it’ll demonstrate to your future employer that you can keep the company ahead of the curve, making you a very desirable asset to their team. To stay up-to-date with any advances, subscribe to UX design magazines, join organizations such as the Interaction Design Foundation and industry websites like UXmatters, and read tech news.
- Communication and interpersonal skills. You need to collaborate with other teams and coworkers and interact with customers and stakeholders. This is why honing your interpersonal skills is a must. On top of that, your communication skills need to be on point so you can present design concepts to your colleagues, stakeholders, and executives. You must also develop communication skills to apply storytelling techniques effectively. Why storytelling? Because it’s a crucial skill for understanding customer behavior. Once you conduct user research, you’ll have a clearer understanding of who they are, what they need, and how you’ll provide it.
Educational Requirements for UX Designers
Degree
It is not mandatory to have a bachelor’s degree to pursue a job in UX designing. You can be educated at Bootcamp or other places that give you a flexible learning structure and hands-on experience in prototyping and testing ideas. However, having a college degree is beneficial since many employers ask for one. While few degrees are tailored to UX design specifically, degree options depend on your interests and desired specialization. Since UX design is a blend of technical, design, and human fields, you can select between any of these areas and complement your education with a minor or certification in another:- Psychology and anthropology are helpful if you’re interested in understanding how people think and react.
- Computer science and information are great for the technical and research aspect of the role.
- Graphic design, industrial design, and interaction design are better suited for user experience designing.
- Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), a field of study that interlays well with the skills of UX designing, is offered by some colleges and universities.
Glendale Community College and Carnegie Mellon University offer undergraduate degrees in graphic design and science in human-computer interaction. However, UX Mastery, an approved educational partner of the International Design Foundation, has a list of relevant degrees by the country you can access for a more thorough exploration of your options.Certification
Certifications for UX designers come in many shapes and forms. Take a look at some of the best options out there:- For-profit educational platforms: Platforms like Coursera offer professional certificates in collaboration with universities, colleges, and companies such as Google. Two of their best options are the Google UX Design Professional Certificate and the University of Minnesota’s UX Design MasterTrack Certificate. You can also browse their other practical courses and certifications here or check out the ones offered by Udemy, edX, and Skillshare. Be sure to check if the course you want provides a diploma as not all lead to one. However, even if some don’t earn a certificate of completion, the knowledge you’ll gain might be just what you need to develop the necessary skills for UX designer roles.
Another great option that offers certification is the program created by the Nielsen Norman Group. They also host virtual UX Conferences, which offer a variety of courses. The Human Factors International also offers certifications like Certified Usability Analyst (CUA), Certified User Experience Analyst (CXA), and Certified Digital Persuasion Analyst (CDPA) for aspiring UX designers. Once you acquire any of these, you will obtain mastery in critical UX skills, gain credibility as an advanced UX professional, and you’ll get flooded with opportunities in this field. - Organizations and foundations: The Interaction Design Foundation offers an industry-recognized certificate for beginners called the User Experience: A Beginner’s Guide. As the leading UX Design learning community, they have an expansive catalog of courses for beginners, intermediate, and advanced UX designers. You can check their offering on their official website. They also offer mentor-led boot camps that include a job offer guarantee. Colleges and universities: Similarly, the California State University at Fullerton and Bentley University’s User Experience Center offer full-time certificate programs in User Experience and Customer-Centered Design.
- Technology companies: One of the most commonly used software in UX design is Adobe XD. They have a step-by-step guide and tutorials to get you started on mastering the software. However, Adobe Creative Cloud is the most popular software for graphic design, so you might consider getting certified as an Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) in Photoshop and InDesign for a competitive edge.
UX Designer Resume-Writing Tips
- Arrange skills masterfully: Although this may seem an obvious tip, every technology-related skill counts here. So keep one section dedicated to skills in your resume. Don't tiptoe over it but try to elaborate on assignments or projects related to these skills. From the precise explanation of skills, recruiters realize you are not just bragging. Also, give equal preference to technical skills like graphic designing or content writing and soft skills like innovative thinking or time management.
- Make clever use of keywords to beat the applicant tracking system: Multinational enterprises and IT companies use applicant tracking systems to hire candidates in UX roles. ATS scans candidate resumes, and if yours doesn’t have the right keywords, it won’t get into a recruiter’s hands.
The simplest way to incorporate keywords is to use the ones from the job description itself. Read the roles, duties, and skills carefully on the company’s website. Some important keywords used in UX designing are prototype, researching, UX Writing, and coding. - Over designing is a big No: Keep your resume precise without overly designing it. Keep it limited to one page. What matters most is your skills and experience related to the UX Designer role.
FAQ
How is UX different from UI?
UI is an abbreviated form of User Interface, which means a user navigates the products and services in a particular app or on a website. While UX means User Experience. The term ‘user experience’ covers the overall feelings of users while using a site. The user interface is a technical term, whereas user experience combines both technical and psychological aspects.
Which industries are more likely to hire UX designers?
The scope of UX Designing is far-flung. According to The Conversation, an online media platform, they are required in financial services, manufacturing enterprises, and banks. Software development companies, telecommunications firms also have ample employment opportunities for UX design personnel. There's also a high demand for UX designers in educational institutes.