Unfortunately, I have to disappoint you — the market is full of junior designers, inflation increasing, and companies are closing. Recruiters get dozens of applications for one job position. If you’re looking for clients on Facebook groups then you’ll see hundreds of portfolios below one post with a gig offer. I went through this already and I’d like to share my solutions on how to overcome it.

How to make money as a junior designer?

The easiest and fastest way to make money when you don’t have senior experience is — freelancing. Finding a new client is not an issue, more important struggle that you have to face is lack of experience. Unfortunately, after finishing 2 weeks of design course you’d not be prepared enough to take any job so what’s the plan? The strategy that worked well for me was this 👇🏻:

1. Learn fundamental clutch skills.

UX designer is a role that requires a wide range of skills. Prototyping, running workshops, accessibility, testing, audits, researching, etc. However, there are a few basic, foundation skills that every UXer should master:

• Research — you have to know questions that need to be answered before design. Who is the user? Does the client really know what he wants and why? How we would know if the design fails? So often you will solve your client's problems just by asking questions and helping him understand things. I wrote a complex article about it and I think research is the most important skill in this profession.
• Testing — If you’re still overwhelmed about things like margins, spacing, auto-layout, etc. then don’t worry — it’s not that important to learn at first. However, testing is a must-have step that confirms if your design is good for the user and how well it solves the problem or challenge. To learn this I recommend watching Steve Krug’s materials. Even a simple test with your friend can show how wrong assumptions you had.
• Handoff — It’s not the point to focus on the tool (like zeplin /figma/ avocode) or method — these things you establish together with the developer. The real valuable skill Is knowledge about that what’s possible to get coded and what’s not. As a beginner, you will often design weird ideas while the simple, popular pattern would solve the same thing and be 3 times easier to code. Don’t base fancy projects on dribbble or behance, you wouldn’t find the true UX inspiration solutions there and It will break your perception of what how the real products look like. I wrote a whole article about it. I recommend avoiding these platforms and looking for inspiration in real products like from the App Store or using websites like mobbin.com or screenlane.com

2. Involve in one real project.

I guess 10 concept projects that you make by yourself can be not as valuable as being a part of a real product. Looking for compromises, talking with real users, and solving real problems — these things clients and recruiters are looking for. While you’re making a portfolio based only on your own ideas then you’ll never understand what it means to keep deadlines or lose money.

How to find and join a real project?

• 🟨 Internships — unfortunately it would be not easy because a lot of people are trying to apply but that’s a perfect position.
• ✅ Developer’s side projects — Probably the fastest way. Reach out to experienced developers who try to create projects after hours. You can find them on discord servers or Facebook groups.
• ✅ Unpaid internships at startups — Offer your services for free to startups. You can find them at events, business breakfasts in your city, and of course on LinkedIn or Facebook groups.
• 👆🏻 IMPORTANT NOTE — Startups, teams, and developers often need more hands to work but they wouldn’t like to be your babysitter all the time. Before you offer your support to anybody then try to get some basic skills that I’ve mentioned above.

3. Find clients

After around 4–6 months of intensive learning, you can gain pretty enough knowledge to work on the first simple projects. Here we’re going finally to the point that you’re probably the most interested in.

How to find clients?

• ✅ TRAIN COMMUNICATION — Clutch point, especially for introverts. Your career and life depend on that who you said „hello” to. Talking with strangers would be a big part of your role — tests with users, meeting clients, job interviews, and stuff.
• ✅ EVENTS — The best source of getting clients — real-life meetings. The possibility to see a person face to face and make a handshake give you a different position than trying to reach out to these people on LinkedIn. You would be surprised how easy It is sometimes to meet a new client. I’ve never been to an event where I haven’t met a new client. Even if you meet a developer or other designer then they probably know somebody who is looking for services that you have. I would say that my life wouldn’t look like this If I didn’t say “Hello!” to a few people in my life. Except for events you can look for business breakfasts, business clubs, or startup meetings in your city.
• ✅ SALES— Imagine that you’ve met a client who is interested in you but not convinced because you don’t have a few years of experience — what would you answer? Freelancing can be a pretty good path for you to start making real money as a junior but remember this is the business. Your salary depends on that how many/which clients you have and how they’re satisfied working with you. You need to know how to answer typical objections, how to present yourself and your portfolio, and how to offer your services in a way that make other work with you.
• 👉🏻 IMPORTANT NOTE — Knowledge about that how to talk with clients and train sales skills you’ll find for free on the YouTube channels: Michael Janda, Johnathan Stark,Chris Do (The futur)

4. Patience

Remember, starting is hard but everyone went through this — someone didn’t have a problem with getting a job but was struggling with designing good solutions and the other one couldn’t find a job but had really good skills. It’s ok to apply for 30 positions and still be rejected — don’t worry, it's just a reality, so often is not going about that you’re a bad candidate.

Sometimes companies hire a designer because he is a friend of a manager or developer who recommended him (that’s why meeting a lot of people is so important), or sometimes you’ll meet a jerk recruiter who says you'll never be hired. You’ve met 5 clients and no one wants to work with you? Analyze your pain points and the next client would start a cooperation with you. This is just a reality and that’s totally okay to have some struggles with getting a new job.