UX Designer
UX Designers decide how a product feels to use and prove it works with real people.
Don't just read it — play it
Clock in at 9am and make the calls a UX Designer makes all day. Six decisions, real consequences, a score at 5pm.
What this role really is
UX Designers are responsible for how a product works, not just how it looks. You watch real people struggle with your product, form a theory about why, and design something better — then defend it with evidence rather than taste. Craft matters, but so does collaboration: most of your best ideas get changed by an engineering constraint.
- Interview users and watch them struggle
- Sketch and prototype flows
- Run usability tests
- Partner with engineers on the details
- Defend design decisions with evidence
What it pays
- Entry level
- $80k–$115k
- Mid career
- $120k–$155k
- Senior
- $170k+
Typically 9:30–6
Majors that get you here
Entry roles: Product Design Intern · Junior UX Designer · UX Researcher
Your 9-to-5, hour by hour
A realistic ordinary day — not the highlight reel.
9:30 AM
Usability session
You watch a first-time user try to finish onboarding. They stall on step three for 40 seconds, then quit. You say nothing and take notes.
11:00 AM
Synthesis
Across five sessions, the same pattern: people don't understand what the account is for. The problem is the copy and the order of steps, not the buttons.
12:30 PM
Sketching
Paper first, fast and ugly. Six versions of a shorter flow, then two worth building in Figma.
2:00 PM
Prototyping
You wire the prototype up with real content, not lorem ipsum, and check every state — empty, error, loading, success.
3:30 PM
Engineering handoff
You walk an engineer through the spacing, the error copy, and the one animation that matters. They flag that one state isn't possible; you redesign it on the spot.
5:00 PM
Critique
You post the flow for team critique, absorb three rounds of feedback, and pick the changes that make it clearer rather than prettier.
Great for you if
- You notice when something feels wrong and can say why
- You like watching people use what you made
- You can take blunt feedback on work you care about
Probably not for you if
- You want your first idea to ship untouched
- You dislike defending decisions in meetings