UX Job Playbook

About the author

Hi there! My name is Poyi Chen. I have been practicing user experience design for the last thirteen years and worked with various companies in the biotech, education, and social media sector. Throughout my career, I have been through the early struggle of navigating the job hunting process and now become more experienced after eight successful full-time job switches. I have also sat on the other side of the table and participated in the hiring process as either the direct hiring manager or decision stakeholder In my past roles. I made a switch from fine arts to design many years ago to pursue a profession that aligns with my passion. This career decision led me to a happier and more fulfilling life so far. Helping others to achieve the same outcome has been one of the most rewarding for me.

About UX Job Playbook

In the last ten years, I have mentored aspiring designers and senior designers to provide support on career planning, honing the craft, and getting into the field. Amongst the topics I discuss during mentoring sessions, resources for job hunting have not been as available as other topics. Therefore, the main focus of my mentorship has been centered around career transition and job hunting. 

UX Design Job Playbook is an accumulation of my mentorship notes over the years. The goal of this playbook is to provide a thorough overview of the user experience design job-hunting process as well as practical information on how to prepare and navigate through each step of the way. In this playbook, we will walk through the entire job-hunting journey, from understanding the types of companies and working environments out there to creating your application materials and getting yourself ready for design interviews. While the interview format may shift over time and can vary by company, this playbook emphasizes the motivation behind each interview step and requirement, which has not changed drastically since I entered the industry and is likely to continue to stay relevant for a long while.