The UX profession has very much evolved over time. This field is made up of professionals from various backgrounds and skills. These include: visual designers, developers, architects and more. 

Although there is no one-way route to landing a role and a successful career in UX, there are skills and qualities that employers will look for; based on their needs and the projects they work on. Being involved in UX is certainly guarantees a “colourful” range of daily duties – gaining all the skills you can certainly won’t go amiss. 

The skills that will help you land your next role, no matter the requirements: 

Communication 

Effective communication skills are vital for any job, let alone working in the UX sector. Being involved in the UX sector means you’re likely to interact with other fields and departments to reach a common goal; being able to maintain an effective level of communication is very important. 

Working with clients to establish requirements, conducting workshops, hosting webinars, conducting interviews are all likely to fall into your pathway at some stage as your career develops. 

From establishing the requirements until building a prototype, communication is vital. 

Visual Design Skills

Visual design skills are not crucial to working in a UX field, but if you’re looking for an advantage, this skillset certainly guarantees it. Just like most UX roles, you’ll need to have an understanding of colour theories, the visual hierarchy as well as regularly keeping on top of the latest UX trends and best practices. 

Project Management Skills

This is perhaps one of the most important skills to have in any job role; however in UX, it is crucial. Being able to plan, manage and execute a project is the least that is expected. Establishing a UX workflow that will suit you and your team is vital; whilst also managing the development process. 

Learning how this works will make you stand out and be valuable to employers. 

Analytics 

Analytics is becoming more important by the day. Data is important when it comes to product development and marketing, and Google Analytics does a good job of providing those statistics. 

By being able to set up targets, monitor and report on them will be a great help when it comes to extracting information and progressing from that.  

Copywriting 

Well-written copy is crucial towards the UI. A badly written error message or security instruction can lead to the experience going badly wrong.  Businesses are hiring copywriters specifically for UX, which shows it’s growing importance. If you’re an active blog writer, then this skill will be invaluable to employers and future projects. 

Be Understanding 

This one doesn’t necessarily involve any technical skills, but it could be one of the most important skills you have. You will be working with people and UX focuses on people. As a UX professional, the product you are ultimately building, serves the purpose of improving their lives, work or the purpose of their product. 

Being able to see their point of view and solve issues can be tricky, but it is a skill and mindset that is necessary. Some people may natural problem-solvers where others may need to develop this mentality. 

Be familiar with coding languages 

Most UX designers deal with technicality; so having an understanding of what makes a digital product work, as well as the technical constraints, can serve as an advantage. With coding, the languages that first come to mind are the likes of: Java, C++ and Python. 

However, basic knowledge across HTML and CSS can prove useful towards interaction design. When working with interfaces, having coding skills can help overall design. 

Bring Your Vallue

The more skills you have, then the more you can add to your work; whether you’re working in a big team, freelancing or just beginning with a startup. These skills can be both personal qualities or attributes that you develop over time. Having different personalities and skillsets within a team allows professionals to delegate and also come out their comfort zone when dealing with different situations. 

If you’re looking for a career in UX, please visit our jobs page for the latest vacancies.