What you need to know in order to truly thrive in this industry

Overview

This article is going to be a cold, bracing slap in the the face, and a wake-up call for a lot of you.

I’ve been getting asked this question a lot lately. I think now, possibly more than ever before, that it is vital you understand what survival in this industry really takes.

Today, we’re going to be discussing:

• What you’re up against
• What your greatest assets are, and
• Some approaches you can use to land the job, while outmaneuvering your competition.

This is not your parents’ world

Understand right now that we live in an age of immense complexity, insane demand, and overwhelming competition. Your folks got regular jobs, bought a house in their 20’s, and you still have apartment roommates in your late 20’s to early 40's.

Yeah, it f***ing stings, and we all feel it.

This is the world left to us, and, like it or not, it’s the parameters under which we are operating.

By far, the two greatest issues that you’re going to face as a millennial or gen-z UI/UX designer are:

1. Your competition is fierce

There are a ton of us, and not a lot of good jobs. Our parents and grandparents had a ridiculous amount of kids, then voted for people who didn’t care about families or kids.

Now, after rolling recessions and two decades of financial instability, you’ve grown up, and you’re hungry.

Know that your competition is just as hungry as you are, if not more so, and they are more than willing to eat your lunch to survive.

2. Your competition is everywhere

If that weren’t bad enough, you’re bidding against agencies and individuals who are leveraging locational arbitrage to extract as much capital as possible from positions, while leaving you without one.

Your competition is literally everywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, all over the world. They don’t sleep, they don’t eat, they don’t take vacations, they don’t get sick, and they’re less expensive than you.

Your margin is their opportunity, and they’ll make sure you know it any chance they can get.

Your greatest assets

Now that we have that out of the way, we need to discuss what power you bring to the table, because you’ve also got a deep bag of tricks at your disposal that can help you gain an edge over your immense competition.

Your compassion

This is one of the most important things that you can have in this industry. The next leg of whatever it is that we’re dealing with in this market will sure as hell not be an “ever man for themselves” style of survival.

Your success will depend on your ability to help others, care for them, and let them return the favor. If you take away nothing else from this, make sure you know that compassion to your fellow people might not always get you the job, but will be your greatest ally in the long run.

Your skills

Bar-none your highly-honed, refined skills as a UI/UXer showcased in a razor sharp portfolio are what will get you the job almost every time.

You need to give these businesses a damn good reason to hire you over anyone else, so you pull out the stops and you show them the absolute best work you can muster right out of the gate.

Your goal should be to have a portfolio and repertoire of professional assets that makes you look like the absolute best candidate for the position, hands-down.

Your cunning

After your skills, your cunning is what will help you do everything from garnering your first interview, to landing that job you really want.

You need to carefully, methodically, and diligently cultivate your soft-skills, such as communication, collaboration, and rapport building, to carve out a spot that is a perfect fit for you.

Your adaptability

Lastly, your ability to roll with the punches, diversify, and say yes, when everyone else would say no, is the thing that will help you keep the job, and stay relevant in the industry throughout your career.

Techniques of engagement

There are many tools and techniques that we can safely rely on to help us get to where we need to go. In this case, we’ll be focusing on the big three.

Intelligence gathering & networking

First, you will want to master the art of communication. You need to know how to build rapport with people, talk with them, and really get to understand their needs so that you can offer a solution based on your own skills and abilities.

Moreover, you need to talk to people so that you know who else you need to be talking to. Build a network, make contact trees, and understand the relationships between people that make things move on an organizational level.

Lean into adversity

Second, you will get hit with things that you just plain don’t know how to do, or have never actually done before. Lean into it. Find every resource you can at your disposal, gather the necessary information, and make an opportunity out of your adversity.

Remember, every time you are tested it is an opportunity to showcase exactly what kind of designer you are, and of what caliber.

Give value first

Always, always, F***ING ALWAYS give value first. Be the first person to give, create, and/or deliver value the first time, every time.

Don’t wait, don’t hold back, don’t see if someone else will do it; if you want to really take your career and earning potential to the next level, you need to be ready to take on any and every responsibility that comes your way to the best of your ability.

This doesn’t mean not setting healthy boundaries, but what it does mean is that you need to be the type of person that says “yes,” or “let me see what I can do,” where everyone else would say “no,” or “its not my problem.”

Bringing it all together

The cold, hard truth is that we face more competition now than any other generation before us.

• Your competition is fierce and your competition is everywhere.
• Leverage your compassion, skills, cunning, and adaptability to outmaneuver your competition as it seeks to eat your lunch.

Lastly, the techniques of engagement that you can safely rely on to see you through are:

1. Intelligence gathering & networking,
2. Leaning into adversity, and
3. Giving value first.

By leveraging your assets, along with these techniques, you have a much higher likelihood both surviving and thriving in this industry that we call ours.

Good hunting.

Nick Lawrence Design
Website | Portfolio