I'm a high-ranked UX designer working in enterprise SaaS for the past 10+ years. My previous jobs were various startups that had a mix of design and programming -- something I'm also very highly skilled in and enjoy. I'd personally describe myself as an architect in both programming and design, and my strength is information architecture and innovation. My peers describe me as a "hard hitter" when it comes to creating strategy, solutions, and delivery. I've dabbled in product management for the past year to be an effective presenter/storyteller. I voluntarily directed and led two large startup non-profits with fantastic results, and hope to someday own a product or service. I love strategy, research, and architecting solutions. I'm less interested in tactical visual design where time is spent perfecting pixels for developer hand-offs. I've been doing it forever, and honestly, collaboration is more of my sweet spot. I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts or advice around whether I'm overqualified to be where I'm at, and if they hear a particular role that's better suited with my skillset.
You may also consider higher level managerial ux roles...sometimes these entail strategy with upper level business and management.
I'm on the same boat. I don't get a kick out of accomplishing the perfect craft, but I love solving problems systematically in partnership with different disciplines. I seem to be always drawn to technically challenging space, deeply embedded in low level system architecture. All of my PM friends have been asking why I am in design in the first place. Right now I'm interviewing for a PM role. There are a lot of overlap between design leadership and PM though. So my plan is to ship a product as a PM and see if I can decide.
Yep, you and I sound like the same person. I'm curious to explore the PM route along with design leadership to see if there's the right fit. I'll DM you -- looking forward to hearing how things go with you
What about growth? It’s a pretty new area that combined design, engineering, product and marketing, maybe a growth executive or a growth hacker of some sort? That could be a possibility.
You seem to be great for a product management role. However, you may have to let go of UX design as a day-to-day task in a product management role. You can’t do both at the same time if you want to grow your career in product management.
I appreciate the feedback and yes I see the amount of work PMs have to work with. I'm sensing the signs are pointing that direction, so I'll explore further. Thanks!