Exploring design and marketing
And the Solution to be More Useful
Digital or tech-related jobs have taken the world by storm. Based on my observation of my Twitter timeline, a lot of people are trying to learn to code and, surprisingly, doing design. UI/UX design, to be exact.
The "UI" in UI design stands for "user interface." The user interface is the graphical layout of an application. "UX" stands for "user experience." A user’s experience of the app is determined by how they interact with it. Another name for this type of skill is also called as product design. Mainly, they are like the interior designer of a physical store. They are in charge of making the online store "sell" well by combining the visual aspect of the website or app with the marketing copy and also the customer flow from the first impression of the website to the checkout page. For me, it is considered a useful and impactful job. But this will not be helpful if the design aspect of the website or app does not match the programming side (front end and back end) of the software. Thus, it is important to take note that the UI/UX designer does not work alone on this. They need consistent communication and collaboration with engineers, project managers, and stakeholders to ensure the task at hand is delivered successfully.
As an additional point to make about related tech career, there is another way to be more valuable. Instead of selling yourself short by being a normal UI/UX designer, you can also focus on other related skills that can be useful to start your own freelancing services, your own agency, or your own online business. The world does not revolve around the concept of being EMPLOYABLE with a company only.
Important skills of an online business such as marketing/sales, digital presence (web development and social media), and operations (with the help of software and technology) can be learned side by side while practicing UI/UX design to create a mixture that can be considered unique to future recruiters and future customers or clients.
As an example, if a person has a background as a data analyst and has knowledge of statistics and data visualization, they can market their services and offer to build portfolio websites for analyst and finance related jobs. Another example is that they can offer to create customizable dashboards with UI elements for their possible clients. This is a specific niche that can capture some major impressions.
*Note: This is mainly an advice for myself, but from a third-person perspective.