This second edition of The UX Careers Handbook offers you all the great advice of the first edition―freshly updated―plus a new chapter on critical soft skills, much more on becoming a UX leader, and a 17th user experience (UX) career pathway.

The UX Careers Handbook, Second Edition, offers you an insider's advice on learning, personal branding, networking skills, building your resume and portfolio, and actually landing that UX job you want, as well as an in-depth look at what it takes to get into and succeed in a UX career.

Whether your interests include design, information architecture, strategy, research, UX writing, or any of the other core UX skillsets, you'll find a wealth of resources in this book.

The book also includes:

• Insights and personal stories from a range of industry-leading UX professionals to show you how they broke into the industry and evolved their own careers over time
• Activities and worksheetsto help you make good decisions and build your career

Along with the book, you can explore its companion website with more resources and information to help you stay on top of this fast-changing field.

Not only for job seekers,The UX Careers Handbook, Second Edition,is a must-have for

• Employers and recruiters who want to better understand how to hire and keep UX staff
• Undergraduate and graduate students thinking about their future careers
• Professionals in other careers who are thinking about starting to do UX work

Contents

Part 1 Establishing Your Foundation

Chapter 1 What Is User Experience (UX)? 

Chapter 2 Your Career Is Grounded in Your Education 

Chapter 3 Never Stop Learning 

Chapter 4 Personal Branding and Networking for Career Success 

Chapter 5 Critical Soft Skills 

Part 2 Getting a Job

Chapter 6 Resumes and Portfolios to Illustrate Your Value 

Chapter 7 Work In-House or Be an External Consultant 

Chapter 8 Independent Contracting or Starting a Small UX Business 

Chapter 9 Landing a Job (or New Contract Work) 

Part 3 Recruiters & Employers

Chapter 10 Working with a Recruiter; Being a Recruiter 

Chapter 11 Employer’s Guide (and What Job Seekers Should Look For) 

Part 4 Career Glimpses: What, Specifically, Can You Do?

Chapter 12 UX Career Pathways 

Chapter 13 Design-Related Pathways  

Chapter 14 Research­Related Pathways

Chapter 15 Content-Related Pathways 

Chapter 16 Strategy-Related Pathways 

Part 5 UX Leadership

Chapter 17 Corporate UX Leadership

Chapter 18 Alternative Pathways to UX Leadership

Cory Lebson has been a UX consultant and user researcher for over two decades. He is Principal and Owner of a small UX research consultancy, a builder of UX community, and a past president of the User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA). Not only a practitioner of UX, Cory teaches and mentors to help professionals grow their UX skills and conducts regular talks and workshops on topics related to both UX skills and career development.

About the Author

Cory Lebson has been a UX consultant and user researcher for over two decades. He is the Principal and Owner of a small UX research consultancy, a builder of UX community, and a past president of the User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA). Not only a practitioner of UX, Cory teaches and mentors to help professionals grow their UX skills, and conducts regular talks and workshops on topics related to both UX skills and career development.