My tech layoff & how it affected my UX design career
By Samaya Sinha, Co-Founder at Ideate Labs
Samaya here. I am currently the co-founder at Ideate Labs and work in Inclusive Design and UX research at Disney Streaming. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn because I love to post resources for aspiring designers.
I wanted to share a more vulnerable story with you, which I don't usually do because I don't like talking about it. But today, I want to talk about a moment in my professional career where I was swept up in a storm of chaos and anxiety before I could finally experience the light.
In the summer of 2022 I was laid off from my role as Director of UX Strategy at FreeConferenceCall. I was in total shock- I had worked so hard to prove myself at the company. I had increased conversion rates for the business by 20% across 10 million users...what more could I do to show that I was an asset to the company?
I took it very personally. I hate to admit this but in those first weeks after the layoff I would sometimes cry myself to sleep. It was like a part of my identity had been challenged in some way and I needed to redefine who I was.
After a few weeks to process, I decided to throw myself into providing educational resources at Ideate Labs. I created a lot of interactive workshops that I posted on YouTube around that time. I redesigned a bunch of popular apps with UX beginners in Figma. I ran UX strategy workshops in Miro.
One of the managers at Disney discovered my YouTube videos and connected with me on LinkedIn- he happened to be hiring for a UX Researcher/ Inclusive Design instructor role that he thought I would be a great fit for.
The interview process was challenging. I had to present the efficacy and credibility of the Ideate Labs curriculum to over 12 UX designers, UX researchers, managers, and the Head of UXR. Luckily, our success metrics spoke for us:
We had grown an email community of 30,000 learners, a Slack community of over 7000 learners, and a YouTube community of over 2500 learners. We had run over 400 free events and workshops, and provided dozens of free UX resources and courses to our community as well.
We had an 89% graduation rate across all our cohorts. We increased alumni salaries by around $47,750 on average.
Our holistic curriculum covered design thinking, business strategy, product positioning, product scoping, and UX/UI design. We covered the end-to-end design process.
We showcased how students used business principles, inclusive design principles and ethical design principles to choose project topics of their choice that would lead to the greater social good.
We presented over 13 alumni video testimonials - over 17% of our total students were willing to go on video to talk about their learning process and job success!
And guess what? I got the job! I get to pursue my passions for teaching and research on a daily basis :)
My point in sharing this story?
1.Be true to who you are. Take some time to do some soul searching to figure out what matters to you and what you value. What would your dream UX job look like? What would the team and work culture look like? What industry should you work in (healthcare, e-commerce, finance, media)?
2.Don't let fear of external factors limit your ability to take action now. Nobody can control the economy or the UX market. However, we can all take actions to move closer towards our personal goals, regardless of external factors. What are the self-limiting beliefs that are preventing you from acting in your personal life? Name them, feel them, work to minimize them!
Our most successful alumni have these same mindsets. Just 2 months ago, one of our alumni got a UX research contract role at Reddit, despite the layoffs and her fears around the economy. We spoke in depth and she was tempted to go back to work in marketing, but persevered with her UX job applications. It paid off!
Yasmine got her first UX research role at a consulting agency at the height of the layoffs last year- she worked at the role for 6 months and then was furloughed! However, she did not let this stop her- she kept applying and landed a UX research role with GE Aviation within months of being furloughed!
Vlada was a new grad who landed her first ever job, that was also a UX job at the height of layoffs as well! Hear how she did it.
Despite the layoffs, there have been a few silver linings in the UX industry as well:
Despite UX layoffs, the demand for UX specialists is on the rise and has increased by 50%
43% of companies still allow remote or hybrid work opportunities for more work life balance.
UX salaries increased by 8% despite inflation and recession talks
The average base salary for UX designers in 2023 was $95K
So what's holding you back from taking a UX course besides the UX market? Chat with usand let us know because we genuinely want to hear about your experiences! We also work hard to improve our offerings on a daily basis. Recently we have decided to offer all our alumni group coaching for lifeto deal with the current state of the UX market. We are also open to new feedback directly from you! We want to hear from you :)
If you have your heart set on UXand finances are the issue, then we recommend working with Meritize's small education loans.
If you are interested in committing to the 4-Month Live UX course, then set up a call or respond directly to this email with questions you might have!
As always, rooting for your success!