Am I Cut Out to be a UX Designer for Enterprise?
UX designers have varying educational and professional backgrounds — we share how this diversity makes them suitable for the position.
Enterprise design is the design of software that helps people do their jobs. UX designers in enterprise are therefore the individuals who spend time “humanizing technology,” as Fred Beecher, Director of UX at Nerdery puts it. They advocate for the user’s needs, so that the software will ideally be usable, enjoyable, and accessible for humans.
If you’ve ever considered taking the plunge and becoming a UX designer but are not sure if your background really fits the bill, then read on. It’s a more diverse job role than you might think.
I already work as a designer, but not in enterprise UX — why switch?
No matter what area of design you’re currently active in, you’ll find that there’s a universality to the way designers approach problem-solving: the user is always at the center. This is true regardless of what field you’re designing in — whether that’s interior design, fashion design, graphic design, industrial design — the purpose of all these disciplines is solving a problem for the user.
Designers in general cultivate a certain mindset when tackling problems and thinking of solutions. They will continually refine this mindset throughout their careers and learn to apply it to a whole range of contexts — one of those contexts could be enterprise UX, an area with a lot to offer.
As a UX designer in enterprise, this role is a hybrid one merging the tasks of a visual designer, interaction designer, and user researcher. They focus on the journey that the user takes with the software and how the software is structured to facilitate this journey. Understanding the user’s journey starts with conducting user research, identifying personas, creating an information architecture, generating user flows and wireframes, prototyping and user testing, and visual design. Their focus is usually on a specific product, or a design system which can be applied to multiple products and technologies.
Many organizations are recognizing user experience to be an important part of their overall strategy. This change comes with the acknowledgement that their current software was created to fill a business need but wasn’t necessarily designed to be user-centric. The expression “function over form” may have really tipped the balance in favor of function in years gone by. Nowadays though, users expect not only a good but an enjoyable experience when using software to carry out their business-critical processes at work, reflecting the positive experiences they can have with consumer applications.
As many companies try to transform their software UX for the better, they are hiring UX designers to tackle the problem. This means there’s a gap in the market for you to bring your design know-how and apply it to enterprise UX. The advantages of organizations taking in designers who want to switch from other, “freer” design professions is that they can help inject some fresh creativity into their organization and how they approach software design in general.
It may be easier to transition to enterprise UX if you’ve already worked with digital products and services, but even if you’ve been designing clothes or other tangible products, you can easily find great courses to introduce you to the world of enterprise UX design (check out our recommendations at the end). You’ll see that you’re already familiar with a lot of the ideas and concepts.
And the benefit for you? Well, there is something to be said for the job security in this field both in terms of its growth and in steady, full-time positions. And the salary of a UX designer is usually far higher than the national average in most countries. This article on Forbes offers some more career advice for designers on why enterprise UX is an area worth considering.
I have a background in the humanities or social science — is UX design for me?
A self-deprecating half-joke I often heard repeated around my university campus went something along the lines of, “I study sociology/politics/philosophy/history, so I guess I’ll be unemployed and living with my parents once I graduate.”
It can be disheartening to feel that your subject is regarded as second-rate to more “employable” and high-paying STEM subject areas. Jobs in tech for instance, one of the best-paid industries, can seem out of reach. But what if there was a way to secure yourself a good income in tech, and still put your humanities or social science degree to good use, say, as a UX designer?
The humanities, psychology, and social sciences are all about investigating the human experience, society, the relationships within it, and how these relationships influence culture and the world at large. The end users of enterprise software are human beings with their own thoughts, beliefs, cultural backgrounds and so much more. This is why user experience departments need individuals adept at understanding these nuances in end users and to spot trends in their behavior.
In step with contemporary trends, many university humanities and social sciences programs have “gone digital”. They investigate everything from how smartphones are used in our day-to-day communication to the formation of internet sub-cultures. Furthermore, at most universities, these degrees are heavily research-based. Students earn their degrees by carrying out their own research, and to do so, they must be competent in an array of qualitative and quantitative research methods. These methods overlap with those used by user researchers in enterprise UX. For instance, observation, quantitative surveys, and guided interviews. If you would like to know more about the 14 most commonly practiced user research methods at SAP for example, we offer a free downloadable card deck for you to browse through.
As far as it concerns the end user, UX designers should take nothing for granted without solid research to guide them. For that, graduates with a background in the humanities, psychology, and social sciences have a valuable skillset to offer indeed.
I already work in software, but I’m on the development side — can I move to design?
The short answer here is yes, absolutely. And for many organizations, this is actually a dream scenario. Although highly sought after, there’s a saying about the developer-designer combo in the IT world — and that is that they’re unicorn rare.
As a developer, you know about the building blocks to provide certain functionalities and what really lies behind the UI. This means you also know what can be realistically created with the technology and tools your organization has available. Design has its constraints — and designers sometimes need a reality check about what’s feasible. Therefore, you would be a valuable addition to a team of UX designers because you bring your developer-perspective to the table.
Likewise, if you take on the role of a UX designer in a team of developers (as a former developer yourself), you are well acquainted with the way your colleagues think. You know what they know about problem-solving and testing, but with your interest in UX design you can also expose them to a user-centered way of thinking. This means advocating for the end user’s interests when writing code to implement new features or enhance existing ones.
Most importantly for you as a developer to remember is that the perceived hard cut between developer and designer is actually a myth. Don’t discount yourself from exploring design because you consider yourself to be a left-brainer who only deals in numbers and logic but not creativity. Developers and designers have the same common task: Creating solutions that are intuitive and easy to work with for the end user. They just go about this task in different manners.
There’s really a lot of overlap in the skills a developer and a designer need to have: Analytical thinking, the appropriate tools, creative problem solving, and reusable patterns to scale. Therefore, transitioning from one role to the other doesn’t mean acquiring a brand-new skillset, and both roles can only benefit from upskilling in either UX design or development for UX.
I’m a woman (she/her) — is enterprise design a man’s world?
It’s common knowledge that in STEM industries generally, women account for a smaller proportion of the workforce than men. Design departments in tech companies are usually smaller than their engineering counterparts and represent somewhat of a break in this male-dominated trend — but only to a certain extent.
According to the 2019 Design Census carried out by the AIGA and Google, women make up 61% of the design workforce. On the surface this doesn’t look too bad if you’re daunted by the prospect of being the only woman on your floor. However, if you aspire to have a career in UX design involving a decent level of progression, then the glass ceiling could still present an obstacle to you acquiring a leadership role: the same research by AIGA and Google discovered that only 11% of design leadership roles are held by women.
Why? Firstly, given the smaller size of design departments, there are just fewer leadership roles to offer with typically one director role in comparison to several in engineering departments. However, this is not the main reason for fewer women in design leadership positions. The discrepancy largely comes down to the company culture in many organizations where obvious and latent gender bias still exists, presenting as fewer female role models and mentorship opportunities and a lack of equal pay and support for mothers.
However, some tech companies are actively striving to address bias and discrimination towards women and minorities within their organizations. At SAP for example, there are a multitude of programs and activities aimed at supporting female talent. Based on this wide range of programs, SAP was able to achieve its target of 25% women in leadership in mid-2017, and is making progress toward their goal of reaching 30% by 2022 (read more about SAP’s commitment to gender equality).
So, the short answer to the question “is enterprise design a man’s world?” Is yes and no. You certainly won’t be the token woman should you choose to enter into the field as a UX designer. But like many other areas of tech, it’s a world that could still be better shaped for women to climb the ranks and have fulfilling roles in leadership. However, choosing the company you work for carefully by considering their attitude towards gender equality could also positively shape your working experience. Furthermore, with your presence you can always help to build a more diverse and inclusive working culture where women are represented in all career stages.
For more on being a UX designer…
If you’re curious to know more about the life of a UX designer, then give our Behind UX and SAP Design series a read — we home in on some of our design offices around the world and give a glimpse into the working life of our designers.
Course recommendations to get you started in enterprise UX:
· Developing Software Using Design Thinking
