<p>Published on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/ux-job-titles-how-to-set-up-your-job-title-name-91dda56569e4?source=rss----eb297ea1161a---4">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> fernandocomet </p>
<p>Whether you are searching for a job, or have a responsibility on your company, even if you are freelance or you just need some recognition, yo need a name. A name for your job title, for your responsiveness in a company, for your freelance studio or for your influence as a specialist.</p>
<p>Job titles is about naming, it is very relevant, as it defines yourself, your skills and your main tasks. In an emerging market as UX we could say Job title is even more important.</p>
<p>How do you know what´s better for your job title? A visual designer? A user interface designer? A interaction designer? A UI designer? A UX Designer?</p>
<p>I had the same question so I looked for different approachs to Job Titles, these ones:</p>
<ul>
<li>Job Title as your Timeline</li>
<li>Exact Definition approach: Experience/Orientation/Role</li>
<li>Title as a Hero: Ninja, prophet, guru, wizard, astronaut or whatever</li>
<li>Multidisciplinar Job title</li>
<li>Aspirational Job title</li>
<li>Recruiter Job title approach</li>
</ul>
<p>Let´s see all of them!</p>
<h3>Timeline Approach</h3>
<p>Near to reality. You have a career and every time you change your job, you have another job title. This way, you can see the progression of someone, as times goes by.</p>
<p>Frequent paths for this perspective are specialization or getting more responsability. You could begin as a trainee and end up as a CEO of a star-up, as a UX Lead, or as as Product Designer.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*7mRZ4YQp0q5hQhkQpqfV4Q.png"></p>
<h3>Definition Approach: Experience/Orientation/Role</h3>
<p>We could call this also Stack or cards. Think of three boxes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Experience: How many years of experience do you have at your current activity? How are you considered at job market?</li>
<li>Orientation: Related to your main area of work. Which is your main focus?</li>
<li>Role: What do you mainly do? Are you a manager? A designer? A researcher? A consultant?</li>
</ul>
<p>You can see it in the graphics below (based on <a href="https://www.userfocus.co.uk/articles/ux_job_title_generator.html">Userfocus</a>). Think about as many titles as possible for any job market, then make three arrays and just combine them. You should look for your own definition, or randomize it, as <a href="http://www.aaronweyenberg.com/uxgenerator">The UX Job Title Generator</a> does. I made a demo <a href="https://codepen.io/fernandocomet/pen/eMwzdm">at Codepen, right here</a>, just change the titles and you´ll have yours.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*SPg3R_Gsiw43eIpOaNBAvw.png"></p>
<h3>Job title as a Hero</h3>
<p>Everyone wants to be special. Everyone wants to be a hero, just for one day, or for more. This is about ego, identity, crisis. I´ve seen the same people being a CRM, then a Social Media Strategist, then a Big Data Specialist. Maybe the work is almost the same, but in different areas.</p>
<p>When Web 2.0 was a fact, we began to see new profile titles such as prophets, ninjas, gurus, dragons, wizards, warriors and magicians, specially in the area of Social Media. Then this was taken in other disciplines such as programming or UX. This is ‘job title as a hero’, and every hero has his own path. For example: How to be UX Ninja: Go to Japan, learn Ninjitsu 10 years, go back, learn UX. You can always write to the recruiter <a href="http://codehesive.com/ninjarockstars/">the NinjaRockStars letter</a>.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*GpmZUPfX0POg86GCPvK7CA.png"></p>
<h3>Multidisciplinar Job Titles, Vitruvio Man</h3>
<p>This is the most difficult case. There are people who can do many different things in different areas. Taking the idea from Leonardo da Vinci and humanism. People who can do things such as writing and designing, or animation and coding.</p>
<p>I think this is a bit utopic as recruiters don´t usually look for this kind of profiles. Specialization is a must, at least for senior jobs. But specialization is dangerous also: You could be a specialist in an area that suddenly becomes obsolete as a result of technology advance. I was myself in this case, some years ago I was an Actionscript specialist. This technology became obsolete, so you´b better be agile and move forward.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*TJemqEPyR1FDC-bs5cQ84Q.png"></p>
<h3>Aspirational Approach</h3>
<p>This was mentioned from a teacher, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscarsp/">OscarSP</a>. So, instead of what is your job title, you should have something more aspirational, where you are pointing at. Here you will have the difference between ‘what you are’ and ‘what you wanna be’. You see this also in new UX professions, such as ‘Business Service’.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*qVogfSJbh9SO-5a8jJqFeQ.png"></p>
<p>Probably this is the reason why sometimes you find UX consultants under 20 years old, or Product Designers with less than five years of experience.</p>
<h3>Recruiter — LinkedIn SEO Approach</h3>
<p>Think of the job market, think of what is being searched. Skills as words for robots (and recruiters are robots, you already know). Take care of your Personal SEO.</p>
<p>You can have a look a Google Trends to explore search interest for different UX Job Titles, here in example a comparative: ux designer, ui designer, information architect, ux consultant, ux research by time, location and popularity on Google Trends — <a href="https://g.co/trends/B7XqR">https://g.co/trends/B7XqR</a></p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*CCLPXFjcySf5ISo-JDW5bA.png"></p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<ul>
<li>Choose any of the six possible approachs.</li>
<li>Take a look at job trends: Keep your eye on what companies are demanding more.</li>
<li>Describe yourself in three words (or more).</li>
<li>You can always iterate, but your online presence should be the same in different sites (don´t lead your users-recruiters to confusion).</li>
</ul>
<p>More articles on the topic:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://uxdesign.cc/identity-crisis-designer-job-titles-1ae086c796de">Identity Crisis: Designer Job Titles</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.uxbeginner.com/how-to-navigate-the-ocean-of-ux-job-titles/">How to Navigate the Ocean of UX Job Titles</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.aaronweyenberg.com/uxgenerator/">The UX Job Title Generator</a></li>
<li><a href="https://medium.com/become-a-ux-designer/how-to-navigate-the-ocean-of-ux-job-titles-2d2783571740">Understanding UX Job Titles</a></li>
<li><a href="https://visual.ly/community/infographic/computers/disciplines-user-experience-design">Mapping the Disciplines of User Experience Design</a> <a href="http://envis-precisely.com/">by envis precisely</a></li>
<li><a href="https://medium.com/design-ibm/cultivating-a-design-career-beyond-job-titles-8b09fe53a807">Cultivating a design career beyond job titles</a></li>
<li><a href="https://medium.com/swlh/the-many-roles-in-ux-6a9c6b7ab231">The many roles in UX</a></li>
<li><a href="https://read.compassofdesign.com/is-it-better-to-be-a-generalist-or-specialist-5e4a805284b">Is it Better for a Designer to be a Generalist or Specialist?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://telecommunity.net/can-we-talk-about-these-stupid-job-titles/">Can We Talk About These Stupid Job Titles?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/05/01/personal-seo-is-essential-for-your-career-success/#253395187d74">Personal SEO Is Essential For Your Career Success</a></li>
</ul>
<p><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fupscri.be%2Ff51076%3Fas_embed%3Dtrue&amp;dntp=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fupscri.be%2Ff51076%2F&#038;image=https%3A%2F%2Fe.enpose.co%2F%3Fkey%3DdRXnS9Gplk%26w%3D700%26h%3D425%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fupscri.be%252Ff51076%252F%253Fenpose&amp;key=d04bfffea46d4aeda930ec88cc64b87c&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=upscri" width="800" height="400" frameborder="0"><a href="https://medium.com/media/b85dfbb5286d8a25cf2e754b9462cf45/href">https://medium.com/media/b85dfbb5286d8a25cf2e754b9462cf45/href</a></iframe><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=91dda56569e4" width="1" height="1" alt="stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSou"></p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/ux-job-titles-how-to-set-up-your-job-title-name-91dda56569e4">UX Job Titles: How to set up your Job Title name?</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io">Prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>


UX Job Titles: How to set up your Job Title name?

Top Stories