How do I accelerate my UX career in the field? I’m currently working as a product designer.

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Do not index

There are 4 core themes for any career growth

Career Questions — ask the right questions to find meaning in your professional life.

1. Career Questions

Ask the right questions to find meaning in your professional life with Career How Might We’s.

A set of carefully selected questions and exercises that will help you uncover your patterns and design for meaningful growth.
Your career journey should be unique to align with your purpose, values, and motivators.
 
Pro Tip A How Might We (HMW) statement turns your challenge framing into a question that can be solved. It turns problems into opportunities for generative thinking and organises how you think about the problem and possible solutions.
 

2. Define & Create Focus

Identify opportunities to curate your career.

Explore possibilities by brainstorming where and how to grow.
Identify roadblocks that hinder you from taking action now.
Create focus by identifying the opportunities that maximise your growth based on your reality
 

Then design your Career Journey Map that will keep you on course for a meaningful professional life

Curated directions to map your career journey, define the steps you want to take, measure progress, and gain insight into how opportunities and intentional actions can bring you closer to your ultimate goal.
1️⃣ Destination – What do you want to achieve at the end of your journey?
2️⃣ Starting point – Where are you today in relation to your destination?
Careers are traditionally looked at as a destination, not a journey. Often, we set goals attached to others’ definition of growth and success–rather than our definition.

3. Manage Up

Managing up is the process of building a positive relationship with your manager.

The Harvard Business Review defines managing up as “being the most effective employee you can be, creating value for your boss and your company.”
Make your manager’s job easier, set expectations on what your needs are, and create value.
 

4. Sell Yourself

Create a brag sheet, a document with your career accomplishments.

This document includes artefacts that can be used to craft a resume, promotion negotiations, or case studies for future opportunities.
 

A build your personal brand.

A personal brand is the perception of an individual based on their experience, expertise, competencies, actions, and achievements in a community, industry, or the marketplace.
Personal branding is the effort to communicate and present your value to the world.
You establish a personal brand through the process and strategy of personal branding.
 

Have a LinkedIn profile to help you get noticed.

LinkedIn has an estimated 930 million users in more than 200 countries. An updated profile is a great way to ensure that the right people can find you at the right time — It’s a great platform to find job opportunities and connect with recruiters or industry experts.
 
Unsure how to level-up in your UX career?  Find your career goals and opportunities, map the ideal journey, and learn to manage up. Be more intentional about your career growth

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