Every week, I get to speak to at least a few people who want to get into the discipline of UX or participate in mentoring / recruitment calls.
One of the things I advise is to have an open mind when it comes to the understanding of User Experience.
More often than not, a lot of aspiring designers have this assumption that UX = UI and hence spend a lot of their time & energy perfecting the art of creating beautiful interfaces.
As a result, a lot of the portfolio projects are similar and there is a visual overdose.
UX has has its roots in human psychology, arts & technology. There is so much to it. How can one be so fixated on only UIs?
The role of the academic institutions, programs is critical here to put forth this point and expand the candidates’ horizons.
We need better role definitions & job descriptions.
The industry also needs to evaluate candidates on wider aspects of UX and not just UIs.
A case in point, a lot of the times in interviews I like to touch upon behavioural aspects. I find it sad that many candidates do not put any thought into it while designing.
All design results in behavioural change.
PS: It is also why I have a huge problem when people write UX/UI or UI/UX.