How To Push Your Starting UX Designer Salary Over $95K

The typical UX designer’s wage hovers proper round $114,000 within the US. The low finish of the wage vary is round $84,000 and the highest vary is $160,000. 

Many elements can affect precise salaries, like geographical location, {industry}, and common market circumstances. One other issue is the talent set a UX designer brings to the desk. The extra distinctive the abilities and experience, the extra in-demand a candidate shall be. Extremely certified candidates, even these within the early profession stage, command larger than common salaries.

Wait–Are UX Designer Salaries Going Down?

If you happen to heard that UX designer salaries are taking place–or that the profession selection is a dead-end as of late–don’t contemplate that data in a vacuum. 

Many UX designer jobs immediately are typically within the tech {industry}. There have been traditionally excessive lay-offs on this sector over the previous few years. This flooded the market with job seekers and put the ball firmly within the employer’s courtroom.

Likewise, corporations typically have been tightening belts in response to the difficult financial atmosphere. This impacts inventive companies–one other supply for well-paying UX design jobs. Much less work means layoffs there, too.

This all coincided with a flood of recent expertise into the UX design pool. Quite a lot of these job seekers jumped in with restricted talent units.

These elements–mass tech layoffs, a troublesome financial system, and a flood of recent job seekers–mixed to make the UX design world a extra unstable and doubtlessly lower-paying discipline to get into. However is it?

Firms are nonetheless hiring for UX designer roles, and providing aggressive salaries which might be within the ranges famous above. It’s simply tougher to search out these unicorns. Once you do, it’s equally difficult to make your self heard via the noise of hundreds of different candidates. 

Whether or not you might be on the lookout for an entry-level function in ecommerce or one other space, to land a coveted UX designer function with an above common wage–or a minimum of get an interview–you should stand out.

How To Max Out A UX Designer Wage Supply in 8 Steps

Getting observed as of late takes much more than brushing up your resume with key phrases within the hopes of getting previous the recruiting software program. If you happen to’re aiming for an above-average wage as a junior UX designer, listed below are some methods to begin proper now.

1. Reverse engineer the specified UX design talent set

Lists like this are start line in your quest for the above-average paying UX design job, particularly whenever you’re simply beginning out. However the actual meat and potatoes is present in precise, dwell job posts. 

Discover the businesses promoting open, entry-level UX design roles with salaries above $95,000. Why so excessive? As a result of the businesses providing roles that cap out for lower than which might be usually on the lookout for a special applicant and skillset than corporations providing the upper salaries for entry degree roles.

One tip. These adverts have a tendency to come back from the identical subset of corporations–these which might be in excessive cost-of-living areas and/or are UX mature. So begin your search in coastal areas like Seattle, San Jose, or New York, and search for corporations with recognizable names.

As soon as you discover these job posts, it’s time to work backwards. Scrutinize the abilities and duties listed. Preserve monitor of this data in a spreadsheet or different doc. You need to have the ability to rapidly synthesize the info you accumulate.

Your purpose is to establish traits and recurring themes. Realizing this data will assist you to body your present expertise to greatest match these necessities. It would additionally assist you to pinpoint any gaps you may need. It’s best to concentrate on closing these gaps earlier than sending out your resume for these jobs.

2. Perceive design concept and software

A number of years in the past the market was sizzling and favored job seekers. Even these with little to no expertise and simply getting began on the profession ladder had likelihood of touchdown a high-paying UX design function. In these days, it was sufficient to know use a easy design device and never far more.

In the present day that fundamental data isn’t sufficient to make it via the resume screening course of. You have to show that you’ve got an understanding of the “why” behind good design. This doesn’t imply you want a school diploma in graphic design or data structure. You don’t (though it most likely doesn’t damage).

In case you are missing in a foundational data of design concept and software, there are certifications and programs that may assist spherical out your experience. The UX Certification program from Nielsen Norman Group is one. UX-focused organizations just like the Interactive Design Foundation additionally supply programs plus a community of native meet-ups and on-line boards to assist construct your skilled community. 

You also needs to eat as a lot written data as you possibly can. Books are an inexpensive funding and stay in your bookshelf as lifelong skilled assets. Some to contemplate embrace:

Don’t restrict your self to books, although. 

There are numerous nice {industry} blogs and publications, like UX Magazine, UXPA Magazine, Boxes and Arrows (now not lively however with a fantastic archive), UX Movement, and extra. Some are free, some require membership, and others are paid subscriptions. All present helpful data to UX designers, particularly these simply beginning out.

3. Keep on prime of {industry} traits

UX design depends on tried-and-true rules about consumer habits, however it’s equally tied to technological evolution. The easiest way to remain on prime of the most recent developments is to plug into skilled teams, be part of industry-specific communities, and comply with prime UX designers. This places you forward of the curve when new traits and developments seem on the horizon.

Among the greatest skilled teams for UX designers embrace the User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA), AIGA: The Professional Association for Design, and the Interaction Design Foundation. All supply skilled growth assets and communities to affix.

There are Discord channels and Reddit sub-groups devoted to UX design, too. Be part of these to get recommendation from friends, find out about growing traits, and commerce {industry} data.

Following prime UX design professionals is one other strategy to hold your finger on the heart beat of the {industry}. Individuals like David Dylan Thomas, Stephen Krug, and Irene Au are only a few who recurrently write about UX design and their observations concerning the subsequent step within the {industry}’s evolution.

4. Brush up your technical abilities

The deeper your technical data, the extra versatile you might be as a UX designer. Your versatility, together with different elements, helps catapult you to the highest of any interviewer’s brief checklist.

AI isn’t going away anytime quickly. No matter how you are feeling about it, understanding leverage generative AI into your skillset is a brilliant transfer. Try programs on LinkedIn Learning and different assets to get began.

Acquire a working data of the instruments UX designers have a tendency to make use of. You don’t should get to pro-level standing with issues like AdobeHD, Figma, or Sketch, however some familiarity with instruments like that is important. The extra design instruments you perceive, the extra interesting you might be to a greater diversity of future employers.

Study fundamental coding abilities. You don’t should develop into an online developer, however you’ll probably must work with these professionals sooner or later in your design profession. You might by no means write a line of code in your life, however you’ll have the vocabulary and data to speak with builders throughout the product growth course of. Try on-line studying platforms like Coursera and Udemy Academy, the place a mixture of free and paid programs will help you get began.

5. Don’t overlook about gentle abilities

A giant a part of your skilled success as a UX designer is your capacity to have interaction with folks in a optimistic manner. Designers put on many hats, from researcher to mission supervisor to advocate. Additionally they work with inside and exterior teams. 

The power to obviously talk is only one essential skill you should achieve success. Downside fixing, management, collaboration, and important pondering are additionally abilities you should grasp if you wish to land a high-paying job as a UX designer.

You might already be a pure on this space, but when not there’s excellent news. Tender abilities might be discovered with follow. There are courses to present you a foundational data. Then you possibly can put that data into motion. Be part of skilled organizations, volunteer, or get extra concerned in extracurricular actions at your present office or college. 

Show your gentle abilities acumen to a potential employer, and also you’ll often be moved to the highest of the brief checklist of candidates–with a wage that displays your capabilities.

6. Assume past the tech giants

The attract of touchdown a profitable job with Amazon, Meta, or Google is difficult to withstand. However these roles are extraordinarily aggressive, and your possibilities of success are slim. And with increasingly more corporations transferring away from fully-remote work, it is going to often require you to dwell in a excessive value of residing space.

It pays to suppose exterior the field in your job search. If you happen to’re not geographically constrained, contemplate wanting in areas away from the coasts. A $96,000 annual wage goes a lot additional within the midwest than it does in Seattle or New York Metropolis.

In case you have a background in a specialised discipline like healthcare, schooling, or regulation, you possibly can parlay your experience into a distinct segment UX design function for corporations in that {industry}. Combining your design data with industry-specific experience is a combination not each UX designer brings to the desk. The extra distinctive your skillset, the upper a wage you command.

7. Get some expertise below your belt

If you happen to’re a junior designer simply getting began, touchdown a high-paying job may really feel unattainable. One strategy to overcome the impediment of being the brand new child on the block is to construct a portfolio that demonstrates your abilities.

The work you showcase can come from a wide range of sources. The “the place” doesn’t matter almost as a lot because the “how” whenever you’re simply beginning out. You may volunteer, share tasks you accomplished at school, and create designs in your individual free time. 

You may even take a decrease paying UX design function to construct your portfolio and hone your abilities. Consider this as a stepping stone to your final purpose.

The result is to have a physique of design work you possibly can share together with your dream employer whenever you land the interview for that six-figure function.

8. Community, Community, Community

With hundreds of purposes making use of for every job posting as of late, touchdown a job (and even an interview) by submitting your resume alone is fairly slim. Networking has at all times been the simplest strategy to uncover alternatives and stand out from the gang.

There are Slack communities dedicated to UX design, web sites like Dribbble the place you possibly can have interaction with different designers and browse a job board, and even a User Experience LinkedIn group you possibly can be part of.

The purpose is to place your self on the market, develop skilled relationships, and get your work seen. It’s a tried-and-true strategy to land a brand new job, no matter {industry} you’re in.