In this article, I’ll share some advice and tips on how you can spot and avoid fake UX jobs and proceed with confidence with your next move. But first I’d like to share a personal story.

Manager: “We aren’t going to involve users with this project or do any user research, let's just go with ‘gut feel’ and flesh it out”

My internal thoughts:

Cue the warning alarm. This was the third time in a week a manager used the term “gut feel” within the context of not doing any form of user research and alluding to using our own biases as the foundation for creating products and services we were working on. I had only been working at the company for 2 months at that point, but I was already seeing red-flags on a daily basis. I was hoping I could change things and educate managers that were clearly speaking with confidence and authority on subject matter they didn’t understand (“I need you to UX this website, go ahead and have a think about it”), but the next several months proved to be frustrating, confusing, stressful and unbelievably disappointing. I was working a fake UX job.

Although I was disappointed that a company would hire for a role which there weren’t actually any resources to facilitate or basic managerial understanding of, I was more disappointed in myself for not catching the red-flags prior to joining the company, which in retrospect are glaringly obvious.

When I shared stories of this experience with people in my network, at industry events, or online I found out something very surprising… the situation I found myself in is not uncommon in this industry. I’ve spoken with many people who voiced frustrations that the “UX” job they were working in or had previously worked in, didn’t actually involve users in their workflow and had no process of user centered evidence-based decision making. From message boards on the internet, chats on Slack groups, to folks I met during UX meetups and tech conferences, the feedback I’ve heard seems to point to many people working “UX” jobs that are actually anything but user-centered.

What is going on here?

I’m not sure why some companies are hiring for ‘UX Design’ or ‘User Experience Research’ or (the dreaded) ‘UX/UI’ roles when there aren’t any resources in place or basic organisational understanding of the field of human-centered research and design as a whole. Many have speculated that some firms don’t understand what UX actually means and just throw the term into a job description stew, or that some companies use “UX” as a marketing gimmick or buzzword in an attempt to appear more modern and sell clients a service which they don’t fully understand. This article isn’t about why companies are hiring for a role which they can’t properly facilitate, this is an article about how you can avoid these companies and save yourself from a disappointing and potentially frustrating work experience.

Using online resources, feedback from other people working in the field, and pulling from personal experience, I’ve compiled a list of factors you should be aware of when searching for that new role. My hope is that by using this info, you can move forward with confidence that the job you take is a legitimate UX role and avoid ones that are not.

Signs of a fake UX job

Job description that emphasizes coding, visual design, or marketing over user research

A major red-flag is a job description that throws “UX” onto traditional roles such as visual design, marketing, or software development. At its core UX is a human study, any job description that makes little to no mention of understanding human behavior, user research, or testing is a major red-flag. A job role that stresses the importance of ‘pixel perfect design’, the ability to create polished and slick looking UI, in-depth front end/back end development, or inbound marketing is most likely a not a role that is focused on user-centricity and one you should avoid.

Many have voiced concerns that ‘UX/UI’ roles are also a red-flag to watch out for. Although some roles do exist in which talented folks are competent in creating polished user interfaces as well as executing user research, this is usually an exception to the rule (if you feel I’m wrong feel free to disagree and leave feedback!). Finding a person who is competent in UI design as well as legitimate user research and project planning is oftentimes seen as a hunt for a unicorn type talent. A lot has been written on how ‘UX isn’t just UI’ (and. by. that. I. mean. a. ton. of. articles) so I’m not going to go down that path. Just be aware of job listings that stress the importance of visual design often don’t include the importance of research design. If you decide to proceed, do so with caution.

No visible sign of user centered evidence-based decision making

When interviewing for a new role, a massive red-flag is a company’s inability to articulate research methodologies used which lead to evidence-based project direction grounded in user insights. Remember, when interviewing for a position you should be interviewing the company as much as they are interviewing you. Ask to see or discuss case studies/artifacts on the organisation’s research process throughout a project lifecycle and what methods were used to validate or invalidate the initial hypothesis. This is a great way of not only gauge the maturity stage of the firm but can also serve as a discussion piece to ask questions and probe on why certain research and design methodologies were used or not used (or why there was no research, yikes). Likewise, you may be asked what process and methodologies you might have used on projects the company has previously worked on.

If there is no signal of user-centered rationale behind projects and deliverables that the company is showcasing during your interview process, you might want to look elsewhere for employment.

No other UX talent within the company* (this one is not always a red-flag, but might be a good chance of an uphill battle in terms of educating and getting “buy-in”)

One of the many reasons I love working at NHS Digital is that we work in an agile nature which puts an emphasis on multidisciplinary cross-collaboration, working openly, sharing knowledge, and ruthless prioritization of user needs in order to deliver the best possible services. The User Research community we have at NHS Digital and the wider Gov.UK community is full of extraordinarily talented people from different backgrounds, all bringing something different to the table. We support one another and share different perspectives and methodologies to apply to our work in order to deliver easy to use digital services. Joining an organization with an established team, plentiful resources, and wider culture focused on user-centricity opens you to new learning experiences, enables you to do great work alongside experienced professionals, and contributes to keeping user needs and research evidence the focal point of projects that you and your team are working on.

User research is a focal point for every service which is created across Gov.UK

With that said, being a UX Team of One can be incredibly rewarding as well, if the company culture embraces the importance of product validation through user research. On the other hand, working as a sole UX person at a company can be very tiresome, stressful, and frustrating if you are having to constantly defend the importance of your work, educating fellow workers, and possibly work with a lack of resources while still being expected to do your job and deliver value to the organization and users. Perhaps even worse, if you join a company as the only UX employee, your direct superiors may not have a proper grasp of what a user experience role actually entails. This may lead to a frustrating work experience and leave you constantly fatigued (it certainly did for me).

A poster at NHS Digital reminding everyone that user research is a team sport. Everyone should get involved.

This is especially important for junior folks. If you work at a firm that has no legitimate UX talent to learn from and work with, you won’t have the opportunity to sharpen your skills and may have to work hard to unlearn things you’ve picked up in such a work environment if and when you move on to a legitimate, mature UX work culture.

Jessica Ivins wrote an amazing article very much worth your time on why you should join an established UX team in the early stages of your career. Early in your career, you should be seeking to join a team which has resources in place, a culture of user-centricity, and senior practitioners which you can gain mentorship from.

High employee churn

This is a red-flag for almost any sector of work so I’ll keep this point brief. When carrying out due diligence on a prospective company, keep an eye out on the tenure of certain talent. Go on LinkedIn and see if people are only staying a handful of months or squeaking out a year and moving on. If so, this might be a signal that something is off with the work environment at a company you are looking into.

I’ve found people are usually happy to share their work experiences and help out others. Something you can do to minimize risk when in the process of looking for a new role, is to research the company on LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and even send a message or have a phone chat with former employees in order to get some unfiltered and candid feedback on what the company culture is like. Lots of companies pay lip service to the importance of user experience but aren’t willing to actually spend the time and money necessary to do proper user research and product validation. Talking to former employees will give you the info you need.

Great companies are able to hire and retain great talent. Terrible companies suffer from high employee turnover and disgruntled (ex)employees.

Culture that focuses on output rather than outcome

The last thing you want is to be spending your days sitting behind a desk for 7 hours a day pushing pixels or writing soul-crushing documents that are not actually led by any form of user insights. Focusing on output rather than outcome is a losing game and one that great companies don’t play. A company that focuses on quick output rather than spending time gaining user insight and making meaningful solutions is one you don’t want to work for. Bad managers see time spent doing user research as an impediment to quick output. Great managers understand spending time with users leads to better work.