The Industry of UX

How do product teams hire UX Designers? Anthony DiSpezio, Designer Advocate at Figma, explains the most significant factor in cross-functional team hiring and how this may very well be why you are not hired. In the second part of the episode, Anthony describes the role of Designer Advocate at Figma: a mix of hands-on design and advocacy. To be hired for this role, you need to be a Figma expert with a knack for communication!

How does UX hiring at Google work? Earl Friedberg, UX Lead on Gmail and Google Chat, covers the entire candidates funnel and some of the specific hiring steps, such as the presentation interview and whiteboarding exercise. What makes these steps successful? How can candidates set themselves up for success? Earl also sings for the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, and he shares some tips he uses for live performances, which you can repurpose to manage your nerves during interviews.

The whiteboard exercise is a hot topic when it comes to UX hiring. Part of it is solving it, and part of it is managing the nerves while doing that. Ray Gonzales, Lead UX Designer at Zappos, a veteran of whiteboarding exercises, walks us through his thinking process behind administering this exercise as a hiring manager. Then, he switches places as Filippo puts him through an impromptu whiteboard exercise. Next, Ray lays out the very effective framework he uses to approach these exercises and then dives into it, coming out on top!

We’re excited to bring Morgane back to talk about the remaining hiring realities for finding the best UX candidate. She covers points on how to leverage different application channels, why hard skills are overrated, why you need to be mindful of cultural differences, how you shouldn’t fake it, why details matter and much more!

Mirela Ignat, UX Lead at Provably Fair, describes what to look for in a successful design challenge. An ideal candidate takes advantage of storytelling when presenting work and has emotional maturity to accept feedback. In order to stand out, the solution should be simple and realistic, unlike the work seen on Dribbble or Behance. Mirela also addresses how to approach challenges directly related to the company.

From stock options to funding rounds, Adrienne outlines how startup compensation is evaluated differently than what you get from a regular corporate job. UXers need to decide the pros and cons between a publicly traded company and a younger startup, looking at benefits and promotional/growth opportunities too. When it comes to stressful negotiations, Adrienne encourages a practical perspective to help you become comfortable with the process.

If being passionate about design isn’t enough to stand out, then what is? Morgane Peng, Director of Experience Design at Society Generale Banking, describes the hiring realities that UX candidates face in landing their first jobs. Some of these aspects are often overlooked but Morgane guides us on how to stand out by leveraging past backgrounds and understanding why time is one of the biggest factors.

To become a traveling UX Designer, Karla Fernandes, UI/UX Designer, describes her world of freelancing while living in more than 11 countries. She walks us through how building a strong portfolio, investing in a network of clients and making customers happy are key to landing dream freelance jobs.

What do startups look for when hiring UX Designers? Adrienne Hunter Wong, Head of Design at Dataquest, highlights the differences between working for a startup and a big corporation, and how she evaluates portfolios/case studies in the hiring process. She also dives deep in how to stand out as a candidate amongst a crowded UX market.

What does UX in science entail? With roots in biochemistry, Nate Patrick brings his insights in his role as Lead UX Designer at CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society. He strives to implement accessibility principles in the systems he uses and builds to create an accessible environment for all scientists and users. While science can be quite complex and technical, Nate hopes to make scientific information easily consumable to people of any background.