Throughout my travels and chats, I find myself consistently surrounded by someone of this tremendously awesome UX community… I know, I’m lucky right?? Anywho, one of the things that I’ve noted is that many of us believe that we are just not good enough at what we do (including myself). In this post I want to highlight and debunk some thoughts around the lack of self confidence I’m noticing. 
First, a lot of times we just have a general lack of confidence in our work. We believe that we don’t really know UX Design as well as some of the big names, and because of that we are just not that good at our jobs. So, I started thinking… who is it that I think is good enough at UX Design, and what am I doing differently than them. Now, experience levels are always different and I understand that. But at the foundation of this profession, how is what I’m doing different and “worse” than the people that I look up to? I think that this is an important question to ask yourself. What really are you doing differently? Is there anything that sets you apart? Russ Unger debunks this thought in his presentation Opening the Kimono. Take a look at the slides, is there anything in there that looks completely foreign to you? For most people, I would guess not… I would guess that Russ and the guys used the same process and deliverables as all of you. Therefore we ARE doing the same things, and have no reason to think that we aren’t “good enough”. Our process and deliverables might need shaping, but they are the same.
Which brings me to point number 2 if the things in that presentation or others do look foreign to you, what are you doing to change that? If you really aren’t good enough, or think you aren’t good enough, what steps are you taking to be better? There is a ton of information and knowledge out there that can increase your talent, so if you aren’t going out and finding and absorbing it it means that you don’t really think you need to at this time OR that you don’t have the time because you are busy doing UX Design. I never again want to hear “I’m not good at this” (or say it) without hearing “I’m not good at this so I’m doing ABC to get better”. There is always an action to take if one truly believes that they need to take it. AND if you are already taking an action to be better than have faith in your work ethic and the output of your efforts!
So the formula to seeing and believing in your abilities as a designer is to 1. look at those around you that are doing what you think you should be doing and ask yourself where are the gaps between them and me and then 2. close those gaps by educating yourself, working harder, etc. By doing those two simple steps, you should be able to gain more self confidence in your abilities because either you are working towards closing the gaps, or you realize that the gaps weren’t ever really there. Interalize the good work that you are doing to be better, or the work that you do in your day to day work life. We are all contributing to the greater good of making the world a better place for our users… believe in your part!
[…] read a great article related to this earlier in the week by Elisabeth Hubert titled “Are You “Good Enough” at Being a UX Designer?” it is definitely worth a read, no matter what kind of design or development you […]
Thanks for this post! Speaking as a relatively inexperienced front-end and UX designer, trying to enter the field (especially with most of your knowledge being scrounged from blogs and books read in one’s spare time) can be a little intimidating. It’s posts like this that remind me it never hurts to ask for a little help and direction about the process!
Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this post. It strikes at that deep, dark place we all never want to talk about, but struggle with daily. You points about how to combat that are excellent. Thanks!
Thanks so much… and so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Lis–nnI’m very humbled that you mentioned me in your blog post–and I think you’re pretty spot on with what we were trying to show: When you see how the four of us each did our work, there’s an awful lot of overlap. The wireframes from other people probably aren’t all that different from yours–maybe a style thing here or there, but really… they’re for communication.nnIt’s the same reason we opened up a lot of the work product from “A Project Guide to UX Design” on projectuxd.com – so people can take a look, expand and do what fits their needs.nnGreat post–and thanks again for the mention!
Thanks Russ! You are, of course, more than welcome. I’ll be sure to pass along the projectuxd.com information as well… it is an extremely helpful resource. Can’t wait for the next talk as I’m sure it’ll inspire some more ideas for me.
Great post, Lis. nnI see two sides of a coin: lack of self-confidence and current limitations. In the context of interviewing or pitching a client I’ve found that communicating low self-confidence negatively affects the experience. But, being honest about my limitations keeps the dialog open. I’ve had countless interviews where I couldn’t answer a Javascript or CSS question and ended up getting the job or job offer because I simply said, “I forgot the syntax for that. I should know it. But I get the concept and could find the right syntax in a few minutes if I had to.”nnIf I don’t believe in my ability to learn, I lack self-confidence. And I can be tempted to bluff my way through a situation, which inevitably fails in a knowledge-based context like Web work. If I know I can’t do something, but I believe in my ability to learn and adapt, I feel confident in disclosing that limitation. And by doing so, I earn trust and respect by providing an accurate assessment so that the interviewer or business rep can make a sound, money-or-time-based decision.
Wow, great insights Danny! This is an awesome extension to the ideas in the post!! I completely agree with what you are saying and tend to behave the same way…. great minds?
Great post, Lis. I see two sides of a coin: lack of self-confidence and current limitations. In the context of interviewing or pitching a client I’ve found that communicating low self-confidence negatively affects the experience. But, being honest about my limitations keeps the dialog open. I’ve had countless interviews where I couldn’t answer a Javascript or CSS question and ended up getting the job or job offer because I simply said, “I forgot the syntax for that. I should know it. But I get the concept and could find the right syntax in a few minutes if I had to.”nnIf I don’t believe in my ability to learn, I lack self-confidence. And I can be tempted to bluff my way through a situation, which inevitably fails in a knowledge-based context like Web work. If I know I can’t do something, but I believe in my ability to learn and adapt, I feel confident in disclosing that limitation. And by doing so, I earn trust and respect by providing an accurate assessment so that the interviewer or business rep can make a sound, money-or-time-based decision.
how do you define “good enough”? and how do you walk the delicate tightrope between contentment and ambition? and how can the universe be infinite yet expanding at the same time?
Ok Lis. I think I’m going to have to start to get credit for inspiring your posts about lack of confidence and not blogging. 😉 Seroiusly, thanks for sharing your perspective on a lot of the issues we face as UX practitioners in an open, honest and fearless way.
You totally should! hahaha! Thanks for the feedback friend… much appreciated as always.
Awesome post Lis! We all have people in this industry we admire. There is no excuse for not becoming more familiar with the knowledge they have. You have offered great ideas for doing so.
Thanks Lori! That was my goal… glad it was helpful 🙂