A Career in UX is a Career in Learning

Forget tools and techniques. The most essential skill for any UX professional is to learn. Let’s talk strategies for keeping current and applying life-learner superpowers to your UX process.

Remain relevant in UX by focusing on the skills you need to keep learning rather than just tools and processes. There’s a certain democracy to the obsolescence of what we do in UX: if you’re 2 years into it, you might bring as much to the table as someone with 10 years experience. So if you want longevity, focus on voraciously absorbing new things and actively look for ruts you can eradicate. People say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I say hogwash! But if you’re not in the practice of learning, it does get harder. We’ll discuss a mental fitness regimen and frame of mind for lifelong learning.

After more than 20 years in web design, I would have been obsolete years ago if I didn’t have the ability to learn. I’ve survived through many revolutions and meltdowns in the industry, from the introduction of the web browser, the rise of broadband, the age of the web portal, the birth of CSS, the promise of open source, the mobile and touch revolution, the crash of Flash, the various social media booms and busts… The constant reboots have given me the “bring it on” attitude for the future.