UX jobs boring as shit
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- mg336
It's unfortunate some of you have had or are in bad situations. Just don't take your bad experiences and pretend they speak for all businesses and all UX roles. I wonder if some of you are dissatisfied because you have lofty expectations of the type of work you think you'll be doing, and in the end solving a boring problem leaves you frustrated and wanting more. I've had that feeling as well, and I see it often in younger newer people who think all the work they'll get is sky's the limit, no idea is too bold stuff. Never gonna happen. You've got to somehow find joy in solving problems and rely on that at times to tide you over when projects aren't that exciting. Otherwise you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Not everyone can get a job at a top agency that's doing world-changing work.
When I've mentored people finishing UX boot camp type of programs, that's the first and last thing I talk to them about.
If you're bored or dissatisfied, go through the motions, and pour yourself into a side project or some way of keeping your skills fresh. That's what keeps me OK with times that a project isn't that exciting.
- well said. applies to any design gig. it's about problem solving.Gnash
- the work is easy and fun, it's just the people i work with that makes the job boring and sucky...robotron3k
- This is some great UX PRBonSeff
- Because https://youtu.be/hER…rabattski
- ^ x100. I'll be 40 in December. I am thrilled to be well into my career and don't suffer from this stuff.mg33
- Sorry not buying the canned “adult” voice. It assumes a lot and is really just rhetoric.cannonball1978
- Sorry... sorry to possess some pointed maturity on the topic.mg33
- Not really. Because you are assuming that this all stems form having a bad experience.cannonball1978
- OK, so you haven't had bad experiences, you just don't like the looks of the work out there as you see it in terms of challenge / enjoyment?mg33
- Is that how I should read this?mg33
- yescannonball1978
- fate5
Let me give the cynical, jaded old-timer perspective:
Nothing you are creating is of lasting value. You will constantly have to throw out your portfolio every 5 years. You will constantly be chasing the latest trend.
You are now competing against an army of Dribbble loving clones that all think they're the next Steve Jobs. They're doing spec redesigns of Time.com while you're redesigning buttons on an insurance app.
Half of what you create is pure and utter bullshit, and the work you put in will ultimately be of no consequence. Users personas, wireflows, use scenarios. To make yourself feel better, you start to put your personal stock in "data" and the kudos of managers in khakis. Remember when you wanted to be an artist?
Your mom isn't proud of your work, if she even understands what it is you do. Mom's never going to brag to her friends about what you do. Strangers' eyes will glaze over when you try to explain what UX is and try to convince them that it's a real job. In their eyes, you have a boring, non-essential job.
Maybe you try to show off your portfolio to non-designers. That's when it finally hits you that what you're doing, most people don't even care about.
To compensate, we reference the most extreme cases, like designing interfaces for anethesiolgists to regulate blood-oxygen levels. Or wayfinding systems for museums. To try to convince ourselves of our own importance.
But the truth is always in the back of your head - You are a pixel accountant. We have finally reduced design to a job as boring as preparing taxes or medical transcription.
- LOL you are incredibly bitter about your job. Who cares if you're important?? UX IS important otherwise there wouldn't be jobs out there.twentyfive
- As for being an artist?!?! Who the fk cares about that anymore I just want a fucking job.twentyfive
- Does it really matter if you're designing an insurance or something important?? If you're finding yourself loathing your work then get a new jobtwentyfive
- Don't diminish the work that's being done because it's not "art", it's a JOB. Who cares if it's mindless, that doesnt mean it's unimportanttwentyfive
- Oh no my mommy isnt proud of my work! I dont feel creatively satisfied! :'( I'm owed a job that caters to my narcissism at every opportunity!!!twentyfive
- fate, I think you have a terribly misguided view on how you provide value and the satisfaction you get from said value. Maybe you don't provide any value...mg33
- Would be interesting to see you answer the questions I suggested below.mg33
- Also, I don't need my mom to understand what I do. I need her to understand that I'm employed, that I'm happy, and that I provide for my family. That's all.mg33
- Although it is satisfying to point to something and say, "see the success that company is having?" I helped make that happen. But I don't need that from her.mg33
- Boys, I saw the writing on the wall long ago...I made moves 10 years ago to prevent getting stuck in that rut.fate
- I love the smell of mid-life crisis in the morning.garbage
- I transitioned to photography, film, art direction years ago. Wasn't going to be pigeonholed as the web guy or UI/UX guyfate
- This is the kind of content that I love QBN for.Al_dizzle
- Continuity4
My own experiences as a former web designer: the major reason I jettisoned from digital in general was that after the glory days of the early noughties with all of that glorious experimentation, Flash, three-oh, etc, etc, etc, being an online creative was taken out of the hands of actual creatives, and into the hands of technical people.
And, frankly, I couldn't imagine myself trying to constantly re-imagine a fucking button or page layout on a Wordpress template every day for the rest of my working life.
In other words: Jakob Fucking Nielsen won.
Moving on to being an advertising creative was the best move I could have done, at least in terms of creative satisfaction.
- amenOBBTKN
- now i'm trying to focus more in illustration, infographics, animation and content creation than in UI/UX (don't like "the way it's taking")OBBTKN
- I focus on ad ideas/concepts and their executions (film/photo shoots, post-prod, claims, etc).Continuity
- Any time I hear someone in UX referring to their boring shit as a 'creative concept', I want to scream and bash their teeth in with a cast iron frying pan.Continuity
- Ha, that's usually how I feel when I see ad guys muse on how monumental their ad for sugary cereal is. :Dmg33
- Ha, that's usually how I feel when I see ad guys muse on how monumental their ad for sugary cereal is. :Dmg33
- Ad industry is full of swlf-important hard-ons for commercials nobody cares about, magazine ads no one looks at, among other things.mg33
- I majored in advertising but glad I don't work in it. I do enjoy using various aspects of what I learned with clients on projects.mg33
- That's "self-important hard-ons."mg33
- I came up from advertising...had studied it in college, and worked at agencies from '94 - '99...then got brought into a web consulting firm...exador1
- can't imagine going back. It was a lot of fun in my mid 20's etc...but I find this (web, apps, online etc etc) a lot more interesting.exador1
- and while i know a few UX folks that drive me batty, there's a lot of them that are pretty great to work with, and I enjoy that...exador1
- These days I've been doing a lot of UI/UX work and have found it pretty interesting..exador1
- I enjoy the kinds of UX projects where our impact isn't just cranking out designs, but where we are heavily involved in strategy, rebranding, new services, etc.mg33
- I'm fortunate to have worn lots of hats in my career that all combine to help me be better in the role I'm in. Jackass of all trades, master of some.mg33
- :) sounds pretty much like me, mg33 :)exador1
- And Uis still sucksince1979
- nielsen won because he wasn't attached to buttons but style indicators. lots of room there and he chose the lowest roaddoesnotexist
- Al_dizzle6
This is the kind of senior level cynicism that I can only get from QBN.
The other design groups I'm in are all still packed with fresh faced juniors who still believe. In those groups, any type of glass half empty perspective is met with disgust and backlash.
Stay gOLD qbn!
- LOL!mg33
- as a non ux layperson, I'm finding all this rather interesting and surprisingly bitchy.Fax_Benson
- I just never understand why one person's perspective or enjoyment of the job they do can be such an affront to anyone else.mg33
- ^ never actually happenedcannonball1978
- stay gold... indeed <3PonyBoy
- BonSeff5
Focus groups compensated with amazon gift cards validate my best practices
- utopian8
A completely made up job title with no real purpose, except for milking clients for more money with fake research.
- BonSeff4
Are you a self-motivated, go-getter with 5-8 years experience designing innovative, next level user interfaces adhering to strict best practices? Can you also code your ass off and write a compelling set of personas out of thin air based on no base in reality? Rapidly?
We have an open office concept where we encourage collaboration! Only everyone works with the lights off and listens to spotify and podcasts all day and talks to nobody!
Not only that, but your wild ideas will be out of scope! Shot down over a conference call by key decision makers talking over each other!
- +1000fate
- lol! This times 100.kona
- That sounds about right.zarkonite
- love it.Al_dizzle
- I think I've worked there... twice...ArchitectofFate
- fate3
Some day you will die, and the legacy of all your hard work will be a bunch of app interfaces that no one remembers. They probably won't even bother to backup your design files.
- hahahahastudderine
- Same could be said for a lot of professions. Life and work are ephemeral.studderine
- Stick out, create a process and way of thinking and communicate it. I don't see UX as the final result, it's the workings out before the result.antonyjwhite
- Ok the song made lolollzafuturefood
- hahaprophetone
- mg334
Here's mine.
- Length of time in UX-specific position(s): 10 years in which I've gone from hybrid UX / PM role, then a strategy /UX role, then purely UX Design position. Altogether been in marketing / interactive marketing since 2002.
- Your position: Associate UX Director
- Agency or In-House: Agency
- Time at company: 3 1/2 years
- Army of one or team oriented role: UX team of 7, which has gone down from our previous larger team of 25+ UX'ers. Company has changed a bit but our team is growing again and working wonderfully together given how busy we are.
- Types of projects you generally work on: For the past 3 1/2 years I've worked solely with a major national insurance company, mix of staff aug and consulting. Waterfall projects in early days supporting internal application design, then agile projects building new tools for agents, and a major customer-facing product purchase tool that I'm really excited to see launch soon. All projects involved conceptual design, detailed design, strategy, working with BA's, product owners, UIE's, creative, etc. Great people that I miss working with (moved on to other things and new projects last month.
Also now involved in business development and pitch work, I enjoy the hell out of all of that. We're getting heavy into personalization projects, which are new to me but an interesting challenge. Had some downtime lately so I've been building out a design system and pattern library for us in Sketch, learning about Google Venture Design Sprints to use in pitch prep and faster / lower budget projects. We're getting into VR projects and it's fun to learn from the couple of people who really know that stuff. Super excited to get into InVision Studio and make major improvements to our processes and quality of work.
- Culture, coworkers, access to training, career growth, etc: Company has changed a lot but our team is lean and full of positive people. Lots of opportunities to teach each other new things, pursue new ways of doing things, collaborate with creative, tech, content, etc. Work life balance is great, which makes it easier to be a suburban-living parent of two young kids. Company is laid back and we're all hungry for new business opportunities that are coming are way. That energy is contagious.
- Anything else worth mentioning: Like I said below, you have to enjoy solving problems regardless of what they are. Anyone looking to change the world on every project should find something else to do. I think it's like any creative endeavor - find the joy in solving the problem, learn along the way and hopefully your career will be full of great achievements that keep you employable and marketable to future companies.
- See post before this if you've got the page set to "New."mg33
- good to read this.notype
- Thanks no type. I'd love it if everyone talking here did this. It would certainly shed light on the disgruntled views.mg33
- The view isn’t disgruntled. Youre trying to say “its not the job, its you”. I have two years on you. I know its hard but just look at the work out there.cannonball1978
- zarkonite3
The hype is over, there wasn't much to do but no one knew that so they were jumping on the bandwagon throwing UX at everything to see if it'd make more money and eventually it just got commoditized.
Welcome to cubicle life.
- +1BonSeff
- I disagree...I think people realized that UX wasn't just putting lipstick on a pig and backed off.see_thru
- I haven't seen too many UX designers adding value to the products, I'm not saying it's useless but most practitioners are not very valuable. The stakeholderszarkonite
- are to blame as well, you need to invest and make fundamental changes and not just put lipstick on a pig as you say.zarkonite
- antonyjwhite2
It really depends where you work. My role where i work encourages to push back on the problem we are trying to solve. For instance, a project we had we were told we had to do a 'big bang' solution to fix a problem. We had time to investigate the issues and found out that there were 'leaky buckets' to fix. This resulted in small changes being made very cheaply, monitoring the improvements and in the end getting a more accurate benchmark. This then meant that improvements to the various touch points were as friendly for our customer as possible. To me this is the core of UX, not just smashing out specs and wireframes but actually being user centric when problem solving. I do work in-house so I guess I have more skin in the game.
- Good point! Very easy to smash out work on the revolving hamster wheel w/o asking the right questions.studderine
- I mean in UX we are at an amazing time to switch jobs. There's tons of roles out there right now. If you aren't happy shop about, read job descriptions, networkantonyjwhite
- ... remember when being interviewed you also interview the company if it suits you. You can also get a heads up before applying by questioning.antonyjwhite
- ..I had a task in a application process and I asked a lot of questions. In the end it turned out that I was the only one to question. Make it your own!antonyjwhite
- fate3
UX is terribly fucking boring. They have sucked all the fun out of web design, app design, anything remotely creative.
They've reduced us to pixel accountants.
- kona2
can be boring as fuck. And, most companies misconstrue what ux is and how it can be a benefit. The past two companies I've worked for (both shite) needed UX but wanted production design.
Just 2 weeks before I left my last gig the VP said in a group UX/Marketing meeting he wants things in days, hours even, not weeks. Meaning, no more discovery, research, testing, or iteration. Fuck that.
- cannonball19780
Heres another one
https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?j…
If the company is based around a single interaction, then yes, there is a lot of figuring out around the logistics that go into it.
BUT
That's a job for the technical team to sort through, seeing as that they have the skills to work through the technical knowhow and implementation.
UNLESS
This job is really to paint a short story about how easy it is for one login to be accomplished to SELL the idea up the chain or to set up the company's preferences.
Seems trivial for lead-level work unless the title "lead is there only to assist the practitioner in counterparting with other departments.
Either way. zzzz
- I mean, it's super easy to look at a job in SF and be like "Well they have venture capital to burn."jtb26
- and it works because that company never has to turn a profit, they just need to get acquired by a bigger company for $profit$jtb26
- I don't think a single interaction is their product. Looks like there's a lot more that goes into it - https://www.onelogin…mg33
- Fine. Compliance and provisioning. Still a "non-experience" experience.cannonball1978
- SaaS is responsible for lots of paychecks and mouths fed. Sure it's all little bull-shitty but folks gotta eat man. It's just as disposable as anything else.jtb26
- Ask yourself: is someone with "designer" in their title the best person to figure out provisioning devices, or should a technical manager design that one.cannonball1978
- Are you saying that their suite of products, how they work, how they improve them, doesn't need UX people to be created?mg33
- Yes, I am saying that.cannonball1978
- OK, I kind of get what you're saying... sort of...mg33
- Is that company wrong if they find value in a UX designer offering insights, conducting research, evaluating data, etc, focusing on the interface, etc.?mg33
- I'm just really trying to, honestly, understand the "this is a UX job listing for a product that doesn't need UX" thing.mg33
- @jtb26 sure, but mouthes don't "deserve" to be fed. Yeas a job is a job, but my contention is that designers come up against meaningless jobscannonball1978
- Do you believe this company would derive the best value from you? Or does this company believe having UX on staff signifies corporate health for an acquisition?cannonball1978
- And more importantly: does this job interest you?cannonball1978
- Hard to say from a job description. I'd want to know where they want to take their product(s), how their team's work together, what value they feel they providemg33
- to their customers.mg33
- No, not just from a job description. Doesn't tell me much about the company, work environment, culture, etc.mg33
- I checked the site out and it feels like a million other tech companies selling a widget.mg33
- They've got "Keep Calm and Single Sign On" t-shirts though!mg33
- cannonball19780
mg33’s “level headed” way of dick measuring... I get it. Its a trained response to need to qualify who gets to know what they are talking about.
I’ve got two years of experience on him but that doesnt mean that I have more experience. If anything, its probably different experience. More variance on industry etc and Ive been all over.. Look, even if I was a newbie, noticing that the work has become boring wouldnt be less true.
So lets dispense with assessing who gets to shake the apple cart because and get back to having a conversation about whats happening to the work and why its sapped of life.
Going bact to the heyday stuff with flash and all... we do wax nostalgic when these conversations crop up and I hink its because we were having more fun back then. The work spoke to your heart, not your requirements list.
- A heaping helping of cynicism keeps me sane. I'm 42 btw. Been at this shit since '97. We have good clients and not so good clients. And we each form opinions.BonSeff
- I'm not dick measuring cannonball. Strange that you would equate a handful of paragraphs as such.mg33
- I was just trying to level set this conversation, because, again, if someone is complaining and has a year of experience, what are they actually basing it on?mg33
- It totally is. Youre taking resumes to see who gets to discuss this topic.cannonball1978
- Props to you for having a lot of experience, whether it was good or bad. Obviously it helps to know you've been around quite a while and have amg33
- variety insights on why you think the work sucks across the industry. Is us knowing that any better or worse than knowing my perspective?mg33
- cannonball, you are 100% wrong. I just wanted to get to know what people do and how long they've done it. Jesus Christ I couldn't be more obvious.mg33
- It hasn't been bad. Advertising- there was a shitty experience. But so was working in a sheet metal factory. UX has been robotic and frankly, not creative at alcannonball1978
- The Dr. Phil of UXBonSeff
- And not requiring much skill beyond interpersonal skill sand an analytical mind, to be quite honest.cannonball1978
- MG33 you cant honestly expect anyone to take that backtracking seriously when taking resumes is paired with suggesting that the young element expects too much.cannonball1978
- cannonball19780
Oh heres the other thing I think thats hilarious.
The pseudo-adult voice that pops up any time someone makes a comment like my first one, pointing out that it must be because you are young, inexperienced, problems arent fun because you fancy yourself a special snowflake etc.
Sorry no. Im 39 and I’ve been in this for many many years and my point of view is objective. Led many projects. Worked for many industries. Worked in many cities on both US coasts (so I guess I can only speak for the US). The jobs ARE watered down to being creative accountants, as one of you pointed out.
That voice, that “maybe you need to be more adult and youll like it better” is a garbage rationale, cowed, and complacent.
And “boring” is a legitimate complaint and a very alarming one in a creative industry. A profession focused on humans that WANTS to delve deeper into the fineries of emotion and meaningfulness which is simply seen as a market advantage gets the interest sucked out of it because uninteresting people with uninteresting problems drive the work.
Insurance buy buttons are not interesting. Etc.
I think this world needs better objectives defined by better people.
- BonSeff1
UX CAN BE FUN, DAMNIT!!
Fill out this exciting questionnaire!
(Questionnaire can be fun btw - through engaging colors, iconography and a stepped process with digestible chunks™)
- mg330
So, I think this conversation is too ambiguous without context on what each of us do, regardless of whether we're happy or disgruntled in our jobs. Would be great if everyone could share the following:
- Length of time in UX-specific position(s):
- Your position:
- Agency or In-House:
- Time at company:
- Army of one or team oriented role:
- Types of projects you generally work on:
- Culture, coworkers, access to training, career growth, etc:
- Anything else worth mentioning.- Thats fine and all but youre really kist deciding you need to qualify who gets to complain, when the observation is a legit ine.cannonball1978
- That's not what it is at all, but someone a year into UX with limited experience has a vastly different impression than either of us do, right?mg33
- I don't think it's bad to have context around why someone is complaining and what experience those complaints are based on.mg33
- robotron3k0
Yeah, its boring, most switch to "product manager" for an even more boring job.
- yea, how do i do that? ;)futurefood
- ...as product manager you oversee UX peeps and do lot's of writing and write of details and specs for the coders. it just takes an opportunity to get into.robotron3k
- fate1
mg33 - I got into it because of the creativity of that period.
But it's long gone.