Hitting a UX nerve

A little wile ago I wrote a Linkedin post that hit a nerve. Over 800 reactions and well over 70.000 views. My post was as follows:

I wrote this as a reaction to some job adds I was forwarded where it stated that UX candidates without portfolio would not be considered. This triggered in me, as for me…: “Core UX skills are: questioning, listening, patience, empathy, some business knowledge, innovation/ creativity.”

Of course I understand that seeing someones work is crucial in being able to hire them, but in my opinion it is easier to evaluate the skills of a UI designers based upon their visual output than from a UX designer. Having said that it is still very difficult to evaluate a UI designer just upon designs because you need to understand the reasoning behind the decisions and the problem that was to be solved as well as the brief of how this was shared.

The overwhelming responses on this post just pointed out once again how first of all, the boundaries between UX and UI are still blurry, especially noticing the differences in industries and countries. That many recruiters still don’t understand the core value of UX and cannot evaluate this properly over a phone screening or a portfolio review.

What I found best is to do a little exercise. Not one that you can prepare but one where you have to think on the spot. Explain rational, show connections, and allow thoughts to merge. There you can see some real value. If you can solve a problem is not important, it is all about how you approach the problem, do you take all angles into account, are you able to really understand the others needs, the others desires, struggles or opinions.

I still don’t understand why UX designers are evaluated based upon visual output. Its the same with recommendations on Linkedin, of course you read the once a candidate has received. But most interesting ones are the recommendation they have given. This tells more about who they really are, what they value, or how they see things. It is analysing the same thing, but from a different perspective. This is the core skill, nothing else.