HOW TO BECOME
a UX Designer

UX (user experience) designers create systems and products that provide a helpful experience for users. They ensure that websites are easy to navigate, visually attractive, functional, and logically oriented.

User experience designers are the last line of defense for a digital product. They are in charge of everything the user sees and directly interacts with. This includes the layout of the site, colors, button location, menus, graphics, and everything else they deem helpful to the user.

User experience designers build the visual and interactive parts of a website, software product, or application. Everything from social media sites to phone interfaces are designed by these professionals.

However, user experience design is most commonly associated with web development. And while they don’t always code, UX designers can use their coding skills to create the features of a site. Also, they arrange everything in a way that’s easy to navigate and helpful to users.

User experience designers aren’t as concerned with the ‘inner workings’ or ‘backend’ development of a site. Nonetheless, they do collaborate closely with backend and other front end web developers. This ensures all features work together in harmony to create a sleek and functional product.

UX design is a complex and technically challenging field, with a lot of job duty variations between positions. One UX designer’s task list is likely completely different than another product designer. That’s true even if they work in the same building. However, most UX designers (and front end web developers, for that matter) have certain job duties in common. We compiled a list of some of the most common shared aspects of UX design job descriptions.

Not all UX designers know how to code. But coding can be a big part of any UX designer’s daily life. Everything you see on a website originates with code of some sort, often HTML, JavaScript, or CSS. We’ll cover common web development coding languages below.

UX designers almost always work with other developers and a design team. Sometimes, there is a great deal of bureaucracy involved with deciding on a design for a website. Plus, the remaining front end and backend programming needs to be completed in congruence with the UX designer’s work. Early in your career, teamwork can make finding a mentor easier, expediting your career and helping the team as a whole.

For UX designers who are involved in coding, debugging will be a big part of life. Like it or not, all programmers have to deal with debugging on a fairly regular basis. Code is complex, and scripts can seemingly run forever. When something inevitably goes wrong, or when users begin reporting problems, it’s the developer’s job to find the issue.

Obviously, design is a big part of a UX designer’s career. That means they must understand what is functional, modern, and visually appealing. This process often requires experimentation and trying different layouts until one fits.

Websites and applications need a UX-refresh from time to time. Imagine if YouTube was still using its 2006 layout. It would seem antiquated and lack important features that are ubiquitous over a decade later. UX designers follow industry trends and listen to users, then update the product. This keeps everything aligned with the latest standards and keeps users happy.

User experience design, like most web development jobs, can be very lucrative (even early on in your career). According to Glassdoor, the average base UX designer salary in the United States is $85,011. Plus, designers make an additional $7,000 or so in bonuses and overtime. That brings total compensation quite close to $100,000.

And like most fields in the tech industry, salaries vary widely based on a few factors. The factors that have the biggest impact on salary are geographic location, experience, education, and company. Here, we compiled the average UX designer salaries from 15 major metropolitan areas.