I could have swore I put up those personas somewhere over here. Where did my desk go?

For the past nine years, I’ve been writing trading bots and scripts in Ninjascript (C#) while studying technical analysis of the stock market.

Most of this work involves understanding market dynamics, trends, indicators and algorithms. The rest of it is silent cursing, looking for that one semicolon in my code that stops my entire script from compiling properly. It’s truly a love-hate relationship.

Lately, I’ve been getting some warning signs that the market for UX’ers is in trouble. The macro view for the short to medium term seems viable enough. It’s the longer view where I start to worry.

Take these unconventional indicators I’ve seen lately:

Surprising layoffs of senior and principal UX leadership in both agencies and enterprise companies due to cost cutting measures.

An uptick of both UX’ers trying to find jobs, and existing UX’ers who are feeling more isolated from the businesses and/or work tapering off.

The slowing of the bull market for UX jobs in the early spring, coupled with a new emphasis for remote UX talent outside the US. Normally this is seasonal in nature with freelancers, contractors and full time employees (FTE’s), so I’m discounting this a bit.

Now I could chalk the whole thing up to confirmation bias. I was let go from my own position as a UX Manager back in May (which was a fantastic blessing given that I was thinking about starting a business). I could be walking around with a chip on my shoulder, grumbling that the world is against me.

Also, one could easily argue that all signs point to UX being a very vibrant discipline with a bright future. Active user groups, strong community support and a whole lot of unfilled UX positions across the United States. What’s not to love about this if you’re in the UX field? It’s awesome!

If you’re one of those individuals that believes UX is doing fine, fantastic. You do you and be happy. You can stop reading now. Everything will be fine.