UX Designer / UI Designer

1. 1
   Learn UX Fundamentals — Research, Information Architecture, Wireframing

   UX design is grounded in understanding users. Core UX skills: user research methods (interviews, surveys, usability testing, card sorting), information architecture (organizing content and navigation), wireframing (low-fidelity layout sketches), and prototyping (interactive mockups that simulate the final product). Free resources: Google UX Design Certificate on Coursera ($49/month), Interaction Design Foundation (IDF) courses ($16/month), and Nielsen Norman Group's free articles.

   UX fundamentals — 2–4 months
2. 2
   Master Figma — The Industry Standard Design Tool

   Figma is the dominant UX/UI design tool — used by designers at Apple, Google, Airbnb, Spotify, and virtually every tech company. Learning Figma covers: creating frames and components, building responsive layouts, auto-layout for adaptive designs, prototyping interactions, design systems and component libraries, and developer handoff. Figma is free for individual users. Figma's own YouTube channel and the "Figma for Beginners" course are the best free starting points.

   Figma proficiency
3. 3
   Build a Portfolio of 3–5 Case Studies

   UX hiring is portfolio-first. Each portfolio case study must show your design process — not just final screens. Format: problem statement → user research findings → insight synthesis → information architecture → wireframes → high-fidelity mockups → usability testing results → iteration. The process documentation is what interviewers evaluate. Three strong, process-documented case studies beat ten final-screen-only examples. Build case studies on Behance, a personal site, or a Notion portfolio.

   Portfolio — the primary credential
4. 4
   Learn User Research Methods and Usability Testing

   Senior UX designers are differentiated by research depth. Core research skills: conducting user interviews (question construction, active listening, avoiding leading questions), running moderated usability tests, analyzing qualitative data for themes, creating personas and journey maps from research data, and presenting research findings to product teams. Google Forms and Maze (freemium) are accessible testing tools for portfolio projects.

   Research methodology
5. 5
   Target Product Designer or UX Researcher Specialization

   Two high-value UX specializations: Product Designer (combines UX and visual UI design — the most common title at tech companies, $100K–$140K) and UX Researcher (focuses exclusively on user research and testing, $90K–$130K at mature product companies). The Product Designer path is the more accessible entry; UX Researcher roles increasingly require demonstrated research experience. Senior Product Designers and Principal UX Designers at FAANG companies earn $145K–$200K+.

   Specialization for peak pay

• 9:00 AMDesign review — the product manager and engineering lead review the onboarding flow redesign. Walk through the Figma prototype: 5 screens, the new progressive disclosure approach. Engineering raises a concern about the animation complexity. Agree to simplify the transition to reduce development time.
• 10:00 AMUser interview — 45-minute moderated research session via Zoom with a current user. Exploring pain points in the dashboard navigation. Ask open-ended questions, take detailed notes. The user reveals a mental model mismatch — they expect the reports section to be under "Analytics" not "Insights." This is the third user to say this.
• 11:00 AMSynthesis — review notes from this week's four user interviews. Tag recurring themes in FigJam: navigation confusion (3 users), information density complaints (4 users), terminology confusion (2 users). Synthesize into three primary insights for the navigation redesign brief.
• 12:00 PMLunch — 30 minutes.
• 12:30 PMWireframing — sketch three alternative navigation structures based on this morning's research synthesis. Low-fidelity frames in Figma: option A (top nav reorganization), option B (left rail with groupings), option C (search-first approach). No visual design yet — pure structure and hierarchy.
• 2:30 PMDesign system — the engineering team is building a new data table component. Review the component spec against the design system. Two inconsistencies: the row hover state doesn't match the existing table component, and the sort icon uses a non-standard icon. Provide specific Figma component links for the correct patterns.
• 4:00 PMUsability test prep — set up a Maze usability test for next week. Write 4 task scenarios for the new onboarding flow, record the Figma prototype URL, configure the success criteria. Test will run with 8 participants recruited from the user research panel.
• 5:00 PMEnd of day — update the project Notion page with today's research insights and wireframe progress. Respond to a Slack question from a developer about the exact spacing values for the new modal component. Remote work day complete.

UX design is being significantly changed by AI — generative UI tools, AI wireframing, and automated usability testing are compressing the time required for foundational design work. The strategic user research, synthesis of human insights, and complex systems design work remain human. The role is evolving from execution toward strategy and oversight.