Avoid Bad Design Jobs

2021-04-25

Why We Specilize

UX/UI Design is a specialized career path. It takes years of college and/or self-study to develop professional level skills. Its not something you can learn over a weekend.

Like Medicine, Information Technology is a huge field. No one person can know it all.

One area of knowledge is not equivalent to another. In otherwords, its unreasonable to expect a tech support agent to know how to build a web application.

Just like you'd never expect a Nurse to know how to do brain surgery.

Both the Nurse and Surgeon are in the field of medicine and have spent years learning their specialized skill sets. Their skills might overlap in some small areas but their skill sets are not equivalent.

Three Reasons Your Job Title Matters

College curriculms teach specific skill sets based on a job title.
Your title connects your skill set to your salary range.
Job tiles are search terms on job listing sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, and CareerBuilder.

With sites like Glassdoor and Salary.com there is no excuse for employers to not know the differences. Those who low-ball on salary or combine two or more jobs are being shady to save money.

Here's an Example of a Bad Design Job

This was listed as a "UX Design" role for a mid-sized company. But when you look at the skill sets they want to fill this role its clear this is 5 jobs in one.

It is unrealistic to redefine the skills for job title to save money and hope to fool smart people. The people with the intelligence and skills to do this level of work are smart enough to see through this game.

I've highlighted the individual jobs hidden in the example below with different colors to make it easier to pick them out. If this was a true UX Design job it would be 90% blue.

Project Manager = Red
Marketing Lead = Orange
Technical Copy Writer = Green
UX/UI Designer = Blue
Front-End Developer = Purple

UX Designer Job Description

Here are the questions the CMO is looking for the candidates to answer.

Experience designing landing pages and the KPI’s associated with it?
Ask for an example of a landing page they built or enhanced?
Ask about load times?
Describe a top web enhancement in the past 6 months and the results?
What are 3 KPI’s to measure site performance?

Job Description: Company X is looking for a UX Designer to drive increased conversions from digital and social campaigns and continuously enhance our websites to improve the overall patient journey and drive new patient growth. We have experienced exponential growth in digital patient acquisition over the past year and are continuing to grow via a combination of growth in our existing 80+ clinics as well as the addition of new clinics across the country. We are looking for a creative, analytical and detail-oriented UX Designer to join our team.

The UX Designer will be responsible for the design and execution of high-conversion digital experiences across multiple brands. This includes the design of new features and products from wireframe to implementation. You will analyze, test, execute and help us reach business goals.

Top candidates will have a proven background in driving digital conversions via UX design and implementation. The UX Designer will be a part of a team that includes a design, content and media professionals. The role reports directly to the Chief Marketing Officer.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

Design and execute user experiences that are simple, coherent and powerful to drive new patient conversions from digital ad campaigns and enhance the overall patient experience across all digital assets.
Maintain a cohesive set of UI/UX principles, strategies and patterns that extend across multiple brands.
Play a critical role in the creation of marketing strategies.
Explore, concept and develop entire design ecosystems, inclusive of user interfaces, connected data and interaction models compatible across screens and devices.
Maintain and enhance Chiro One, MyoCore and Medulla websites.
Work with outside agencies and internal design, content and media team members to create high-conversion landing and web pages for paid search and social campaigns.
Perform daily, weekly and monthly analytics to identify issues proactively and execute UX enhancements.
Design pages with SEO and functionality that adhere to best practices and are compatible across major browsers. Work closely with content marketing team and SEO agencies to define and execute new search engine optimization (SEO) goals and initiatives.
Responsible for the creation, execution and measurement of A/B experiments to enhance website and landing page conversions.
Ensure visual structure is on brand and consistent across all web pages and platforms.
Design user experiences that are intuitive and visually appealing.
Analyze tags & metadata usage to make informed decisions and provide actionable insights.
Illustrate design ideas using mock-ups, storyboards, process flows and sitemaps.
Present design solutions to internal digital team and external agencies.
Conduct usability studies to identify areas for improvement (utilizing Crazy Egg, etc.)
Find creative ways to solve UI/UX problems.
Collaborate on the creation of digital marketing tactical plans.
Ensure the website/mobile architecture can support expected traffic and ensure no performance degradation. (site load time, etc.)
Update websites for new clinics, doctor changes, clinic hours, etc.
Manage call analytics tracking software on websites and landing pages to ensure accurate campaigns tracking.
Keep up with the latest digital and UX trends and technologies to bring innovative solutions to our brands.
Develop/maintain web style/brand guides.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in a design-related discipline or equivalent work experience preferred.
3-5 years of demonstrated experience in creating and implementing digital UX design.
Experience working on Wordpress (our website platform).
Knowledge of HTML, CSS, Javascript and front end development.
Experience with data visualization.
Ability to find creative solutions to UX problems and user pain points.
Strong teamwork skills.
Strong communication skills, both verbal and written.
Comfortable with remote work and communicating effectively through real-time text, audio, or video chat.
Highly organized with the ability to effectively communicate important KPIs and metrics to the digital team.
Advanced knowledge of search engine optimization techniques and program application.
Working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Outlook, etc.)
Up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices in digital marketing, social media and measurement.

Preferred Qualifications

Digital writing experience
Agile marketing or change management
Experience with a call tracking and analytics software such as Invoca
Experience with Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) tools

Job Competencies

Strong understanding of design and know how to use your technical finesse to bring a website to the next level
Passion for improving the patient journey through innovative and creative internal campaigns
Self-starter, thrive in a fast-paced environment and can pivot when necessary
Experienced in mobile design
Effective at collaborating across teams to review features, challenges and designs
Focus on accurate and effective execution
Ability to define, measure and action on meaningful KPIs
Ability to manage the full journey – from wireframes to design to implementation
Solid understanding of the power of good form and function, style standards and the impact UX/UI has on the brand
Passion for design standards and details
Highly organized and a great project manager
Top-notch communication skills

What does a good UX/UI Design job description look like?

Looking for a UX/UI Design role is not easy. Its a new field and many employers confuse and combine it with other skill sets.

I've formatted the following job description into two parts for clarification. All Information Technology workers need to have a minimum set of professional skills.

Professional Skills

Adapt to change quickly
Interpersonal skills
A team player but can work independently too
Solid written and verbal communication
Time management
Mood control (stay calm under pressure)
Critical thinking
Positive “Can Do” attitude
Creative, proactive, and solution-focused
Growth mindset to always be learning
Computer literacy with Windows, Mac, and Linux
Microsoft Office
Internet research skills
Familiar with Waterfall and Agile style project management

On top of that UX/UI Designers need to have the following knowledge and skills.

UX/UI Designer

Graphic Design Fundamentals
UX/UI Design Fundamentals
Mobile First Design Principles
Understanding Responsive Design
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe XD and/or Figma
Wireframes
Mockups
Prototypes

What is the average salary range for a UX/UI Designer?

Use "UX Designer" as search term on any job listing web site.
Look for job descriptions with salary ranges.

The range depends on where you are in the world, your experience, and the company you're working for. In my area the range is $70k to $125k. In larger cities its higher.

What UX/UI Designer roles should I avoid?

When searching for a job avoid listings that have these red flags:

No company name
No salary range
Any industry where the cash flow might dry up due to COVID
Requirements are a combination of skill sets from three or more jobs

Remember the old saying,

"A jack of all trades is the master of none."

Employers are always looking for ways to save money and maximize profit.

In most situations the employer needs a team of people. But either doesn't want to pay the cost or lacks the budget to hire enough talent.

So they try to find a "Unicorn" to do 3 or more jobs under a single job title for one low price. What they fail to realize is these job listings will never attract top talent and the people who apply for them are desperate.

These "Jacks of all trades" will become overwhelmed with the workload of 3 or more jobs. The quality of their work will be mediocre at best. Causing technical and/or legal debt at worst. They will eventually burn out and quit, or mess up badly and get fired.

These cheapskate employers are setting up their employees for failure, and themselves for frustration. They would be better off cutting back their expenses in other areas and investing in the people they need.

Also, avoid Agencies that want to rent you out to clients on a per project basis. You might as well be freelancing because you'll have more freedom and get paid better.