Design @ Benevity, Listing design tools in resumes, 3 interview questions from a Design Director, Coda

🎄 Last issue before the holidays. Wish you a wonderful break and "see" you in 2022 🤙

In this issue:

• 🔮 Design Team Profiles: Benevity.

• ✍️ UX Career Q&A: Should I list all the tools that I can use?

• 🔖 UX Bookmarks: The three questions I ask every designer I interview.

• 🧰 UX Tools: Coda.

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🔮 Design Team Profiles

Benevity

Jaybe Allanson, Manager of Product Design @ Benevity answers key questions about life as a designer on their team, design process and tools, collaboration with others, career growth, learning opportunities, the day-to-day of a designer, and many more. Check it out 👍

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✍️ UX Career Q&A

Should I list all the tools that I can use?

Unless you know only 5 tools, you shouldn’t =))

Depending on the context (resume, case study, about page, Linkedin profile, etc.) and variety of types, I would stick to 5-10 items. I would look at the toolkit that the company uses and is looking for in that job, and prioritize those in your application.

If you don’t have a specific list to target, I would suggest researching similar jobs/companies to see what kind of tools are mentioned the most and prioritize the ones that are the most important to the kind of role you are aiming for. For example, Adobe Illustrator is rarely an important tool for a UX designer, and so on.

An additional parameter I would take into account is how often I use the selected tools. If I used something twice a year, I might deprioritize it to free up space for more used tools.

Also, I would consider the trends and the more future-proof tools that will likely stay or have more potential to stick around. Also, I would consider if there may be a (relevant) tool that you are the best in the world.

Indirectly, your ability to choose only a limited subset of options from a bigger set might signal to the reader that you are familiar with the concept of prioritization, which is important for a UX role.

That being said, I would not be too focused on the tools. If you have learned somewhat relevant tools, chances are you can also quickly learn a similar tool that a particular company uses. Learning new tools is the least of the worries of a potential (smart) hiring manager. The ability to learn quickly, knowing the design process, evidence that you can deliver results and produce high-quality work working on a team are more important elements than knowing particular tools.

I heard this from many hiring managers – specific tools are not as important, tools are the easiest to learn.

Originally published on UX Career on December 29, 2020. Updated on December 18, 2021.

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🔖 UX Bookmarks

The three questions I ask every designer I interview

by Michael McWatters, Director of Product Design @ HBO Max.

“What’s your design story?”

A good answer doesn’t just tell me how you came to be here, but why. What motivated you? What surprised you? What were some wrong turns you took along the way? A good answer is honest and, frankly, interesting.

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🧰 UX Tools

Coda

The army of Notion-like tools is growing. Coda is aiming to replace MS Office (ha! good luck! Nobody else has ever tried that 😜) Looks curious though 👍

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