Skillsets to improve

Walmart
89alfng

Go to company page Walmart

89alfng
May 1 9 Comments

I'm 2 years into my UX design career, working at a large company designing enterprise solutions. What do you think are skillsets that important to improve and grow in my role? What skills/qualities do you think leadership identifies as most valuable? Is it different strategy if I want to grow at my current company vs knowing that I will most likely move jobs in a year?

#design #interviews #ui/ux #career

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TOP 9 Comments
  • SimplePractice
    scotts tot

    SimplePractice

    scotts tot
    One of the best things you can learn is how to ask better questions in discovery and fully understand problems and their contexts. If you can do that, the design work gets way easier. And you have to be able to do that to be in a PD leadership role where you’re defining and executing a broader product strategy.
    May 1 1
    • New / Design
      WSse14

      New Design

      WSse14
      This is something I’m currently working on (~3 YOE). Here’s the ask, now what do they actually need?
      May 2
  • New
    beryl

    New

    beryl
    You should always be expanding the scope, complexity, and impact of what you design. If in year 1 you're executing on scoped problems with clearly articulated impact (often these are problems that someone else has handed to you), then over the years you should be increasingly taking charge of of things like: problem identification and definition; collaborating with PMs and tech leads in planning a roadmap; synthesizing what a diverse range of stakeholders (users, customers) need and sharing that insight with others, proactively thinking about what your product needs, what your team needs, what your org needs; establishing alignment across people.

    Concretely you should understand what the higher-ups around you are prioritizing and develop your own opinion about how those priorities (from things like business strategy, quarterly goals) can be advanced through the work you're responsible for. More experienced/senior designers are doing a lot of work to define the problem and align people on the problem before they actually start executing mockups, prototypes, etc. A lot of this work relies on being an excellent communicator, synchronously and asynchronously. Again, year 1 you're just responsible for communicating why you explored certain designs and what's behind certain decisions. As you go on, you'll use those communication skills to propose new projects, or explain why certain projects should prioritize certain things, and get alignment not just with design peers/leaders but with engineering and PM peers/leaders.

    A final word of warning. A lot of designers who start in enterprise make the mistake of thinking that visual design is optional, and less important compared to the "real" design work of working with stakeholders, understanding product strategy, executing on complex system/cross-product/platform-level problems and delivering value. Don't do that. If you want to make a move to a place like Meta, Airbnb, Asana, Dropbox, Figma, etc. you'll need to demonstrate strong craft skills alongside all the other work of product and UX design. If you do this you'll have the most options at the most interesting and highly paid companies.
    May 1 0
  • Financial Services Company / Product
    papadive

    Financial Services Company Product

    papadive
    I always liked splitting my work into 2 categories, (1) technician and (2) strategist.

    As I progressed in my career, I went from pixel-pushing and living in figma all day (think of a construction worker) to more of a thinker/strategist (think of a city planner/architect). I suppose there could be a (3) politician, which is the leadership and positioning part of career management.

    Like others have said, you’ll need to get good at identifying the problems the business is trying to solve. Help with prioritization of solutions. Then you’ll have to get together with others and then sell that solution.

    Read books on startups, entrepreneurship, leadership, design thinking, etc. It helped me a lot to adopt the mindset of a consultant. Check out Jonathan Stark, he has a ton of free material on his website/podcast.
    May 2 1
    • New
      beryl

      New

      beryl
      Love this breakdown of technician/strategist/politician, interesting way to frame the different skills involved
      May 2
  • Apple / Design
    wx78

    Go to company page Apple Design

    wx78
    Brown nosing
    May 1 1
  • New
    zes

    New

    zes
    Product and business sense is very important at more senior levels. Ability to think in broader scope than a single feature or product.
    May 1 0