Realized I pioneered UX/Design Engineering 20 years ago

Most UX job rejections aren’t about talent. They’re about readiness. In 2019, nearly 68% of new designers landed roles. By 2024, that dropped below 50%. Meanwhile, 73% of hiring managers say they can’t find “qualified” candidates (via Fortune 2025). So how can both be true? Because what we’re seeing isn’t an oversupply problem. It’s a preparation problem. → Design schools churn out polished portfolios built on perfect scenarios. → But the industry needs systems thinkers who can ship inside messy, constraint-heavy realities. That mismatch is why so many designers get interviews but not offers. The difference between “job-ready” and “impact-ready” is simple: 📊 Case studies connecting design to revenue, retention, or efficiency 📉 Proof you’ve solved problems under budget, time, or stakeholder pressure 🤝 Evidence of collaboration across PMs, devs, and business partners 📂 Process artifacts that show how you think—not just what you polished 👉 Swioe for a breakdown of education vs. real life, and how you can stand out in 2025. Want feedback on your case study? Drop a snippet in the comments—I’ll rewrite the first 3 to show how I frame business more clearly. #uxdesign #uxcareers #uxstrategy #uxjobs ⸻ 👋🏼 Hi, I’m Dane—your source for UX and career tips. ❤️ Was this helpful? A 👍🏼 would be thuper kewl. 🔄 Share to help others (or for easy access later). ➕ Follow for more like this in your feed every day.

💡 Lately, I’ve noticed a trend while scanning UX/UI and Product Design roles: 8 out of 10 postings are for Staff, Lead, or Principal designers. Why is that? A few possible reasons: Teams are leaner → companies want fewer, more senior designers who can own strategy and execution. Shift to IC leadership → instead of building large design teams, companies rely on senior ICs who influence across functions. Economic caution → mid/junior roles shrink first; senior hires are expected to deliver immediate impact. Talent maturity → the design discipline itself has matured, so companies expect design to sit closer to business decisions. The question is: What does this mean for emerging designers trying to break in? It may signal that the path in is tougher — but it also highlights opportunities to build hybrid skill sets, demonstrate strategic thinking early, and position yourself for growth. 👉 Have you noticed the same trend? Why do you think mid-level UX roles are getting harder to find? #hireux #productdesigner #recruiting

That “bad” design task they gave you? It might be bad on purpose. Hiring managers aren’t clueless. They’re overwhelmed. One PD role = 100+ applicants. Most candidates never get past the algorithm’s top pile. So, how do they separate product designers from UI decorators? By giving you nothing. No metrics. No personas. No context. Because how you handle nothing says everything. A real product designer doesn’t fill the silence with ego. They frame it with empathy and experience. The deliverables: ✅ Call out the discovery phase. It can't be anything else (Experience) ✅ Hypothesise, don’t declare. Admit you might not be right! 'Everything I am doing is for testing' (Empathy, Experience) ✅ Show you’d test at low fidelity before scaling. We test early, but for the task, here are my Hi-Fi design skills (Empathy, Experience) ✅ If you build personas - then be the first to tear them apart. Show how you would do it and where metrics would be used to validate (Empathy, Experience) ✅ Flag risks in competitor features instead of blindly copying. 'This is worth testing but might not work for us because....' (Experience) ✅ Map every deliverable to a business outcome. Speak the language of the C-suite (Experience) That’s how you prove you’re not just “making things pretty.” You’re able to solve problems for users and the business. So next time you get an “empty” design task— Don’t roll your eyes. Roll up your sleeves. What’s the worst design task you’ve ever been handed? #ProductDesign #UXDesign #Hiring #DesignThinking #CareerGrowth #UserExperience #DesignJobs

This really gets my goat! 😠🐐 I'm seeing a huge contradiction in most of Product Design job roles that's honestly baffling: 🔍 Job posts: "Must have 5+ years experience in [specific industry]" 🔍 Also job posts: "Looking for fresh perspective and out-of-the-box thinking" Wait... what? If you only hire people who've been doing the same thing in the same industry, how exactly are you expecting breakthrough innovation? 🤷🏼♂️ This is like only interviewing your current users to understand what your product needs, while completely ignoring the insights from people who tried your system once and never came back. Those non-users often hold the keys to real innovation. The uncomfortable truth: True "out-of-the-box thinking" usually comes from people who haven't been trapped in your industry's box yet. Someone who's designed for healthcare users might spot the financial friction points that fintech veterans have become blind to. Fresh eyes 👀 see what experienced eyes miss. Maybe it's time to reframe these job requirements: - Instead of "Must have experience in X," - try "Must understand user needs deeply, regardless of industry." The best designers I know don't just have domain expertise… they have human expertise. #ProductDesign #UXDesign #ContractWork #HiringBias #Innovation

The Current Job Market Reality 🚨 A CTO personally reached out to me for a UX Designer role. Exciting, right? Within 4 days, HR was calling nonstop to schedule my interview. The interview went well. I left with hope. And then… silence. 👉 4 days of waiting. 👉 Followed up. Got a “We’ll let you know.” 👉 1 days later — “You’re selected, but another round awaits.” 👉 More waiting. More follow-ups. 👉 Finally, the message: “You’re on hold.” That’s when it hit me. Why do companies play with a candidate’s time like this? Candidates put in hours of preparation, emotional energy, and commitment — not just to ace the interview, but to earn the opportunity. 💡 If you’re unsure, just be transparent. A clear “not right now” is better than weeks of ghosting. Because time is valuable — for candidates and for companies. Has anyone else faced this frustrating loop in today’s hiring market? #JobSearch #Hiring #InterviewExperience #Transparency #CareerJourney #JobMarketReality

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 You open a job post with hope, maybe this one will be different. But as you scan the list, the optimism starts to fade: “8+ years of experience, mastery of five design platforms, expert in Figma, Framer, and AI-powered workflows,” and a portfolio that looks like it came from a Silicon Valley design lab. You pause, you’re still learning the ropes, still figuring out how to turn ideas into interfaces. It feels like the industry is asking for veterans in a field barely a decade old. And yet, here you are eager, capable, and building. The truth is, every expert was once a beginner. The gap between where you are and where they are isn’t just time, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩. Most job descriptions are written with the “ideal candidate” in mind, not the only one who can succeed. They’re often wishlists, not checklists. Hiring managers really want someone who can solve problems, grow fast, and bring fresh perspectives. What matters most isn’t ticking every box, but showing that you can learn, adapt, and contribute meaningfully. That you understand users, think critically, and design with empathy. That you’re not just chasing titles, you’re building value. So, if you’re early in your journey, don’t be discouraged by the noise. Keep building. Keep sharing. Keep learning. The industry needs fresh perspectives, not just long resumes. When you show up with clarity, curiosity, and commitment, you become the kind of designer who’s not just hireable but unignorable. The tech world moves fast, but it rewards those who move with intention. You don’t need 8 years to make an impact, you need momentum, mindset, and a willingness to learn out loud. Keep going. The gap between “beginner” and “in-demand” isn’t as wide as it looks and you’re already on the bridge. I hope this finds you well #TechCareers #UXUIDesign #CareerGrowth #DesignThinking #ProductDesign

As September rolls in and hiring cycles restart, competition in the UX job market is heating up. If you're job searching right now, here are a few things I consistently notice in applications that rise to the top 👇🏽 1️⃣ Tailored Portfolios I know there’s a lot of discussions on here as to whether a portfolio is even necessary in all UX roles.  I would say now more than ever, it really can’t hurt! The best candidates highlight the skills and projects most relevant to the specific role 2️⃣ Telling a compelling story, not just a case study Show how you think. Walk through your decisions, challenges, and how you approached trade-offs, rather than just what the final design looked like. 3️⃣ Quantified Impact Go beyond the deliverables! Did your design reduce drop-off by 15%? Increase conversion by 20%? Shorten dev cycles by a week? Even qualitative feedback (e.g., “user testing showed 90% success rate”) builds credibility. 4️⃣ Scannable and polished Portfolios Hiring managers skim, especially with the abundance of applicants we’re currently seeing.  Ensure your content is clear, organised, and easy to navigate. If you're actively job searching and want to chat to get on my radar, feel free to DM me! 😊 #UXDesign #UXRecruiting #UXJobs #HiringTips #UXPortfolio #JobSearchAdvice

As a design recruiter, I can tell you this: your first designer matters more than you think Here’s why! Most teams wait until design feels urgent. By then, it’s too late. Design is patching holes instead of shaping the product. Your founding designer goes far beyond visuals. They shape vision. They translate messy ideas into real user flows. They make your MVP feel credible, not clunky. Think of them as the glue. They connect product, engineering, and marketing. They make sure what you ship is usable, lovable, and market-ready. Skip design early, and you’ll pay for it later. Bring in a founding designer on day one, and you build on solid ground. Curious when would you hire your first designer? #productdesigner #productdesign #uxui #hiringdesigners #designjobs #designhiring #startuphiring #hiringtips #interactiondesign #design #vc #venturecapital #foundingdesigner

Portfolios are a filter but they shouldn’t be the only door… I used to ask “Developers often get shortlisted without a glossy portfolio. why not UX/UI designers?” Then I realised portfolios act as an advanced filter. Recruiters handling hundreds of applications need quick signals. And unlike code, design can’t be “live-tested” in a 45 minute interview. A portfolio becomes the easiest way to see how someone thinks and crafts experiences. Fair enough. But here’s the gap Developers without a polished showcase still get to prove their skill in real time. -live coding rounds -pair programming -problem solving interviews Their process is evaluated on the spot. Designers? Too often the process stops at “No case studies? We can’t proceed.” Yet many of us are -Solving messy, high stakes problems under tight deadlines -Shipping experiences that millions rely on daily without the luxury to turn that work into a Dribbble ready deck. ..Portfolios show output ..Conversations reveal thinking Yes, keep portfolios as an early signal But also ask “What was the hardest UX decision you had to make?” “How did you bring clarity to a chaotic project?” “What trade-offs did you navigate?” A 15-minute chat can reveal far more than a 20-page case study. Portfolios matter..they help recruiters move fast when design can’t be tested in minutes. But people matter too… Let’s not confuse presentation with potential. #UXDesign #Hiring #ProductDesign #RealWorldUX #BeyondPortfolios #UIDesign #OpenToWork

Everyone talks about how they landed their first design job with a client that paid millions. Beautiful stories. Big dopamine. Mine was different. I got fired. Not because of bad luck — but because I wasn’t good enough yet. That job taught me real lessons. Hard ones. And I’ll share a few so you don’t have to learn the same way: 1. Getting the job is the easiest part. Keeping it, delivering, and leaving professionally? That’s the real challenge. 2. The workforce isn’t smiling. Working remotely doesn’t mean freedom — it means accountability. I’ve pulled 3-day shifts back-to-back just to meet deadlines. 3. Don’t oversell yourself. If the job says 5 years’ experience and you have 2, don’t wing it. It’ll show. Loudly. 4. Hone your craft *before applying.* I knew just enough to get hired — not enough to stay. I got paid ₦300k and still got fired within 2 months. Lesson learned. 5. UX isn’t about being a genius. It’s about asking the right questions. Getting clarity. Solving real problems. I now deliver fast — not because I cut corners — but because I start with strategy, not screens. Today, clients are surprised at how quickly I deliver. But it’s not a preset. It’s preparation. It’s process. It’s painful lessons turned into systems. I haven’t worked on many generic products — I’ve had to think deeply with each unique one: healthcare, edtech, logistics, etc. And every time, I lead with the same mindset: Design is not about aesthetics. It’s about clarity, empathy, and execution. If you're still on your journey, keep learning. And don’t fear a rough start. UX will humble you before it pays you. 😅 #ProductDesign #CareerGrowth #DesignJourney #EntryLevelDesign #UXLessons #FromFiredToHired