Entry-Level Positions For Aspiring User Experience Designers
Entry-level UX design roles are often titled "Associate UX Designer," but Jeanmarie suggests that "finding anything adjacently related to design" is beneficial, such as marketing or graphic design roles. A university setting offers many opportunities to develop relevant skills by solving problems for student clubs or organizations, building a portfolio even without formal UX design internships, since the field is still emerging.
Problem-Solving, Creativity, Entry-Level, Career Exploration, Communication
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Jeanmarie Levy
Senior UX Designer
Property Management Software Company
UC Santa Barbara
University of Southern California, Masters of Education in Higher Adminstration
Political Science, American Studies
Technology
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Entry-level positions are often titled "Associate UX Designer".
2. Seek out roles expressing creativity, even if not directly UX-related (e.g., graphic design, marketing).
3. University settings offer many opportunities to practice UX skills by solving problems for student clubs or organizations needing websites or other designs.
Transcript
Q10: Entry-level positions
What entry-level positions are there in this field that an undergraduate college student might consider?
Entry-level positions are typically called associate UX designers. If I could go back in time and redo college, I would have sought out roles that allowed me to express my creativity more.
I did have a role in marketing, so finding anything adjacently related to design can be helpful. This includes graphic design or doing projects for organizations, like designing flyers or websites.
A university setting is a hub for UX designers because you are advocating for users' needs every day and constantly solving problems. There are many problems to solve in undergrad, like a student club needing a new website.
Be curious about where you can apply your skills, even if you don't find an internship explicitly labeled "user experience designer needed." UX is an emerging field and a large discipline in tech, but few classes teach UX design principles. While visual design theory is taught, something closer to UX is still something universities are catching up to.