Why learning UX is not worth it in 2024 

I’m a Senior UX Designer at a global company, and I can confirm that what this guy is saying is unfortunately true. I’ve grown frustrated as my role shifted from hands-on research to simply dragging and dropping elements on the screen. The monotony has made me lose interest in design, and I’m now exploring more exciting opportunities, like game development. I wish luck to those pursuing a career in design today.

I've been a designer since 2010. Websites, apps, UX, UI, front-end, back-end... I did them all. Every couple of years I save some money and take a break from the industry thinking this was it. But I always come back to it, because it's what I love doing the most. I'm now running a small UX consultancy company and it does well, the secret is to be a bit multi-disciplinary and be a likeable person... and you'll get projects.

I have worked in many large companies that have their own big IT projects and entire product ecosystems, and finding a good UI and UX specialist with a understanding of business is very difficult. Yes, things have been simplified for creating simple business websites, and today it is easy to use ready-made templates, but when it comes to unique and complex service startups, not a single AI is capable of designing, testing, and creating the necessary design properly. The truth is that today, to be a designer, it really requires a huge understanding of everything, from management to interacting with AI.

Your reasons are valid but they're not enough to deter me from pursuing a career in design 😁

agreed! we need to and act like designers rather than just drag and drop components as said. He has pointed out facts to us, now whoever wants to learn ui/ux in 2024 work hard and smart.

Really appreciate the honesty in this video because its all true. Started UX last year so I guess I have a lot of catch-up to do, although I've been a graphic designer for 3+ years.. I'm putting in effort every day to stay ahead. I'll be on the look out for the 5 reasons to do learn UX

Thanks for watching - If we get 1000 likes I will release a FREE mini course on RU-vid! As always appreciate all your thoughts in the comments. If you're afraid of any specific part the most let me know - I'll try to cover it more in future videos. My goal is to help you succeed - and sometimes being brutally honest is needed to set the proper baseline for growth!

Thanks for the confidence drop. Always appreciated 😅❤

I totally agree with you, this was my life for many years, and probably you can wake up from this nightmare when you reach maturity to learn how to win your battles, which will be a lot of battles, and you may get depressed and frustrated, but with a lot of study, strength, and determination you can go far in this field. So yeah, design is not for the lazy ones.

I appreciate your efforts to bring what actually happening in design, unlike most of other content creators AKA UIUX designers.

Thanks for being truthful..... You're really a good man. You'll prosper in life for simply being honest.

As someone working as a product designer, reason 4 is what I am most concerned about. As you say, having a senior designer working with AI on multiple feature looks like the inevitable future state. The work could even be better because there is one person owning the design that makes sure the design is more aligned and cohesive across all features and touchpoints. And even if it’s not better, it will be good enough and a lot cheaper than hiring multiple designers. The best way to be safe in the future is to train to be that designer that works with the AI, so I think it will be important to keep an eye on what (mainly) Figma does with AI and make sure you know how to use it.

I would like to know what directions for people who want to leave UX like me can go for? Could you prepare some information in one video to discuss this with us?

I've been in UX/CX for the past 2 years, can definitely agree that for commercial sector this tends to be the case and you're often tweaking as opposed to innovating. But I will say though the industries where there's been a lot of opps for more impact (in my case) have been public sector, healthcare, energy, transport and education. I've found that there's still a lot of work happening in these since their UX maturity isn't as strong as something like e-commerce or banking, and there is more reception towards avoiding dark patterns. Plus having some Service Design skills can help making you a more well-rounded designer :)

I like how honest you are. I started studying UX/UI 4 months ago, and I also wanna improve my skills by learning some HTML/CSS/JS. It's kinda sad to think that AI can replace us. Tbh, I don't think so. The first to be fired, is the designer. But they are also the ones that the companies might miss sooner. Would be nice if you make a video of 5 reasons to LEARN UX in 2024. I'm working really hard to that, and since it pays well, I really need this job. I can't throw it away rn LOL

Would graphic design be a good field to go into this year?

Hi! I'm about to graduate high school, and I found a Bachelor of Design, a 4-year program designated to User Experience. Would that put me at an advantage? Do you recommend getting into this career overall, do I have a good future outlook?

Hi, so i understand your points but are you talking about specific region or global? Because I'm not into robot lifestyle (like same things everyday) I switched my carrier after 4 years of jobs 😅

I started learning UI/UX Design for about 4-5 months ago. I don't have any design background, or any IT background. I had my degree in commerce and It wasn't a field I wanted to work in. So I wanted to change my career and I came to know about UI UX. And as I started learning about it, I Find it very interesting and now I know that this is exactly the field I want to build my Career in. What is your advice for me and people like me. Do I need to go after a degree in order to become a UX designer or Is it better if I Study my own. Since I'm now 25 years old. If i was to be a self taught designer, where should I start and what are the basics things you suggest that I should learn ?

So what’s plan B for Ux designers, is it the time to shift career to product management or what ?!

Is it a global thing? I'm 24yo from Italy, graduating from a master degree called "Web Interaction Design" in an italian university. I have a background of study of traditional graphic design and with this master I just learned UX/UI and the basics of html/css/js and a little bit of php. I also did a paid internship as Wordpress web developer in a local company for 6 months. I'm into adobe tools since I was 13 and use Figma everyday, just tyring to improve with the new setups. I'm a freelance at the moment and have some web design jobs from local companies and a bigger one in a startup as a UX (only ux, not ui), I'm pretty happy with them right now. I was thinking about keep building my portfolio and try to do a working experience abroad, probably northern Europe. My interest at the moment is in Ux research, also I would love to attend a PhD in Psychology or similar in the next year... Do you think is it worthy? I just keep doing what I love and studying. I also had a period where I wanted to be a full time frontend dev but I'm not sure about leaving design forever, anyway I still want to learn more serious develop with javascript, like React...

Great insights, thanks for sharing! For everybody reading the comments remember that there is always need for good UX in enterprise level softwares, what is mentioned in the video is mostly true but depends on the industry and type of projects you specialize in, if all you do are landing pages or 5 pages website then yes a UI Kit does the trick and there is not such a need for an expensive designer.

Am debating whether to go for my BA for UX/UI but with the Weimar Republic effect 🤔 where a industry will collapse like graphic design where I was applying to 15 jobs pre recession after 2023 that number went down to 0... Whats the point of doing anything i cant study a carrer that will collapse again....I just fell like giving up

A very cold splash of reality. Painfully true, but is there any hope? Stay tuned! Thanks

It is a great video thanks for the great information and well delivered. This is exactly what I was looking for.

The need for conversion is so compelling that it often overshadows design ethics. Every day, I encounter more landing pages optimized for conversion, regardless of the ethical implications of their methods. These tactics include clocks with artificial deadlines, creating a false sense of urgency for purchases, and the use of subpar typography paired with generic designs.

Question for all: what's a career pivot from UX if you're still in the junior UXer phase?

The market is tough around here. I know of some classmates that graduated a while ago and are still unemployed. I got some website projects out of the blue, not even looking, which is nice 🤩 Your courses are the BEST, btw.

So What should I do ??? I decided to study UI UX this month, but I'm afraid AI will take my place after all this time of learning . Is this the right time to study it or are there alternatives?

I want to get the knowledge for my own businesses. I am an entrepreneur. Do you recommend learning or finding people for help? I want to create good ux software. Thank you for your advices.

You are speaking facts. The exact thing I am facing. I have 11+ years of experience in Designing. And now I am feeling usless. I don't know what the next step I should take? :(

Trur sir i am working in start up company and they dont even know what they are doing they just say to add many features fir everything they say ok and they say copy others copy others fast and it makes me soo boring ... Now iam think about it

Im taking a course on UX right now and u really love what um learning. So,whats the advice? Ditch my course?

Why i watched this video :) I'm so really want to study this field but can you advise me to study

I've started last year to learn UX/UI design 😭. What can I do now??

I took a bachelor in cs after a bachelor in nursing just to be an ux designer. I can't find a job and is currently joining the "business wagon". Doing a master i business instead of waiting forever

You are right. The requirements have sky rocketed but if you are able to work in product and not marketing or B2C commerce, most of these things won't be an issue. A whole other set of boring challenges await you like launching a bare bones MVP that never gets updated.

I work as a ux/ui designer since 5 years ago, and yes haha sometime you are moving the same components BUT it¿s not just moving, in mt case I'm always thinking many ways to solve problems, ux and UI have stages, sometime you will research a lot, and sometime you will work a lot with component, and also this depend on the company's culture and the designer, in my company I have freedom to carry out research (when it is necessary) and some designer has the possibility to make research but the don't want to, I love ux/ui 💚💚

I think you’re right in this. I started out as a front end developer wanting to be more UX (12 years ago). I succeeded and did some coding but more and more UX - solving big complex problems for intricate systems and apps, it’s been fun, I was even early on this AI era at a company. Then mass layoffs and I’m “out”. Been trying to get “back in” but it’s been a strange journey since fall 2023. Weird interview processes and ghosting companies etc. I’ve grown tired of this climate and an over saturated market of “UX:ers”. My plan now is to go back to coding, even something else than UI. Admittedly I’ve refreshed my React and Typescript skills but now also taking Python courses… I really like designing but even more so understanding and solving problems. Even thinking of converting into cybersecurity (yeah I know, it’s trendy but I’ve always liked security for some reason, solving problems is key).

Another amazing video, it's refreshing to have at least 1 source of unfiltered truth.

I'm really interested in UI UX design, i wanna learn and work hard to be , just i'm lost and i need a roadMap, thank you so much for this video at least you're not like other RU-vidRS

I will not sleep tonight after this video haha but I appreciate the honesty. We need urgently another video about what hard work to do this 2024

This one hit harder than my ex breakup speech

although hearing all this , i still wanna proceed with design but i appreciate the honesty !

Everywhere I look it says web designers and web developer will be in great demand and wont be replaced by AI. But after watching this I feel really confused. :(

Why this video was not availabe 2 years ago? Im tired of looking for a job and NO ONE is asking for an interview... ALL job descriptions are INSANE, tired of finding "5+ or 8+ years of experience", I mean what in the world???? plus, its is more common now employers ask UX/UI Designers to know how to code!!! WHY do I have to know everything????

That made me sad i just start finding work on it 😢

Looking forward to what your work arounds are for these hards truths

Does this video apply to freelancers as well?

Above all, the whole company thinks they are designers too because they can get their head around! --- Nailed it mate.

as a product designer of 2yrs, heavy on the lack of actual creativity and the drag and drop. also making little no no design decisions and design is an afterthought 🎉

You made me more hesitant than ever. I used to think that web devs/front end have a better place in the industry and ui uxers aren't as needed as there are many talented front end devs who can do ui uxers job but at least not as effective, but that doesn't matter as stakeholders now want simple/minimalist and quick fixes and not unique or artistic work. I used to think that if i see ui ux as too boring or too competitive I'll just go for front end, but at the same time front end devs say it is crowded there too and it's roughto find a job due to the abnormal job requirements such as companies who require a degree in cs. So due to the ressession and everyone trynna make money online, the tech industry became too crowded and doesn't pay as good as it used to. In conclusion, idk if i should persuie ui ux and resist the boring or go for front end even though it's probably harder to find ur way around in 2024 🤡

Bad implementation is so true. Big reason why I’m soft pivoting to design & front end, my vision is never represented 😤

Brutally honest as usual, but it's good to stay on the ground and work your ass off rather than lying to yourself.

so, with all that you said are switching to another career because there are no more opportunities, do you?

Bro gave us Anxiety until the next week 😭

🎉🎉🎉 bravo!!!! You perfectly articulated both my thoughts and tone on the matter. I recently pivoted from UX to Massage Therapy and my mental health has vastly improved. PLUS, I get to use my skills to p'wn all the RMTs that think Framer is a picture hanging company 😈

Olds school UX guy here with 20+ yrs in. I work in enterprise UX design and research now because for me that's where the money is. At the management level things are a bit different, but for my newer hires and jr/sr designers, this guy is pretty much spot on.

I work as a UX Designer for a big tech company, and I can confirm that 100% of what you said is true. I love my job and the company, but I am very concerned about reason number 4. I am pretty sure that Figma will present something related to that at Config this year. This one is hard to solve. I am in a good position just by having 5+ years of experience and working for a big tech company that is very hard to get into, but I am afraid even that won’t be enough. It hurts to say this, but if you are thinking of starting in this area, please think again. There are better opportunities out there.

Hey Malericz, I recently got laid off and I pretty much agree with all the points you mentioned here! Everything you said already happened in my last position. That's why I hope everyone knows the truth about working as a designer in 2024!

I totally agree and feel the same when you said the thing on 0:48s

I disagree that it’s difficult to find work in UX design. I got certification and landed my first role a month after completing the program. How I did it? I network through my environment and offer my learned skills to help build my portfolio so it does look good for businesses that want to pay for entry level work. If you want to learn UX skills and apply them in the job market, go for it! Maybe that’s your calling. It will be more difficult to land a job if your personality sucks…no matter how good you are at what you do.

@MalewiczHype always speak nothing but absolute truth which I hardly find from others I know. Wish you all the best for you and what you are doing for us ❤️🙏

Why Google launched a certificate and said they need more UX designers?

what did you think about designership micheal wong

Great time people - I'm in the half of UX-UI paid course - and REALLY needed to change industries from my now job. Great Michał for saying it's all for nothing... 😔

Yeah, screw this, I'm so done with UX - especially if it's projects that equal designing or improving an SaaS system. Design systems are literally the end of us and a lot of companies in the industrial sector are looking for UX/UX/product designers who can build, maintain and further develop a design system - that then the AI will run and the designer will be looking for a new job. I'm considering, as my last hurrah in the design industry, to work as a UX/UI designer in the games industry. I'd rather work overtime for Electronic Arts than drag and drop components from a design system...

Nice video. What do you think regarding UX researchers? Are they also at risk?

Let me do a prediction for designers in the next years: UX Design won't be the same like today but it can't be removed I think the current situation is mainly happening, because we got lazy the past years. Back in time before flat design you needed to have much more understanding to craft components since they where not flat. You had to put more effort into creating something outstanding. But the last couple of years where flat design made it, everyone (even non designers) were able to create simple designs and even with mordern technologys everyone is able to change that design into a real webdesign project. The second thing is the fact that companys all over the world save broken theirselfs by ditching bigger researches and more complex designs going into a direction which leads to using more automated and easier to maintenance tools like net promoter scores for example. And yes even ai will get better and provide even more possabilitys to kick some progresses we have to do as ux designers. But should you stop learning UX design nowadays or beeing scared to get kicked out? Definetely not. There is a change happening right now and what youre doing today as a UX Designer won't be what your'e doing in the future. We need to see what companys will need from us in future. So from the design part: Since 2024 we are jumping out from the flat design train back to more complicated components which are aiming for more uniqueness, there is a change already happening, so from today all the various tools and possabilitys may wont be used in the future since we are aiming for more stunning and unique components. Same goes for companys. They may want to work cost effective but there are always the big players who start changing directions and tell what's the new way. No company will stay at the same level they are today. And also AI never will be that creative to completely removes our skills. And from the technical part: Every year in tech niche is providing new chances, new tools, new software, new technology and new mindblowing possibilitys. So in development when Chatgpt was launched, every developer was scared about their jobs to get replaced. Now in 2024 we can say even if AI is getting better it will assist developers and do boilerplate for us so that we can focus on the real interesting parts in development. It kicks out old tasks and brings in new opportunitys. Mayber in the next years it wont be called "Developer" rather than something like "Code Engineer" and AI like chatgpt will be our tool to do our daily busines. And the exact same thing will happen for UX Design. it will be called different in future maybe and there will be a different frame we get used to, but its definetely not wrong to learn the principles and ask yourself what the pain points are from today and how this future frame will look like.

I appreciate this honesty. I have been off and on learning design for years. I was considering really getting into it, but I have been kind of hesitant seeing what AI can do with design. I think, at least for awhile there will still need to be a bit of the human touch in there, but I am sure it's only a matter of time for it to change. I will say though that I am sure what I learned currently in design can absolutely help in the future.

yes this job is pretty boring and repetitive, what the author said are mostly true. don't be fooled by all those ig and youtube tutorial videos out there teaching ppl how to make fancy animations and design. they are just not realistic (yet). maybe eventually we will have software that converts fancy animations into usable codes. But until then, ui/ux is mostly just a bullshit job like any another. don't be fooled by bootcamp advertisments that try to sell u stupid courses that people slapped together in a week.😅😅😅

I worked at Motorola for 3 years and never had a feature go live. 😅

Starting from nothing and in my 40s. Im doomed. But it was a dream of mine to be a designer and just fulfilling that is enough for me.

I’m a traditional graphic designer transitioning to UX/UI. I guess the bright side for me is that I can always go back to traditional graphic design. At the end of the day, I’ll always be a designer.

Thank you ❤

I’ll continue my UX job until AI replaces me 🤷‍♀️ it’s boring but it pays really well

This video broke my heart but I still want it so much. 💔

Great! And is there any solution? Or just get used with the facts what you say in the video.

this is so negative and discouraging, but all truths are, reality is often dissapointing... hope next week you can show us the bright side as well sir, we all need that!

I love design so I will never give up 😅

100% right. 0% wrong.... on all counts. I've been working with smaller companies where there is reluctance to sink money and time into testing. This dovetails into what you were saying about dark patterns, especially if you come into a company and the dark patterns are already there and the CEO loves it even when they understand the issues with it. And since there isn't time for testing, we can't get the data that very likely would sway them. (very likely in my particular case, there are definitely a lot where there the likelihood is zero). Also, when you're in a job that has little to no time for testing, it makes it that much harder interviewing with people that are looking for that asset. Even the testing you've managed to do doesn't seem to be enough.

Great video, Michal.

This broke my heart but I’m going to get a UX job this year you’ll see, I’m set

I just wanted to start learning UX/UI this year and start career with it (Do you think it is a good step to start with learning UX/UI) in 2024 ? I hope the effort will pay off eventually, keep doing related videos ✌

Sadly but really true, I'm a designer and ux ui for over 17 years and became very frustrated with this profession 😢

Sensei you really are telling the truth for the most part, which is encouraging as a designer and not a Figma drag And dropper!

I can not afford to quit this path. I love music...but it has brought me $0. I love stand-up, but most of my life has been music, & it's another financially unreliable art. I am 41, single, & see the financial walls that have imprisoned my options for decades. Regardless of failure & setbacks (I'm the misled 3 years 650 apps guy) under no means can I quit.

we can make career in UI/UX in 2024 I started learning in 2023

Wowee. Ever heard the expression “Truth hurts, don’t it?” I’m literally that person you describe, starting from scratch. Is it even worth it? Dunno. But, beats being a like ostrich with my head in the dirt. That’s for sure. Thanks for the heads up.

Everything is evolution. Ai is coming. New tools come. But none of this replaces us as designers. If it is so UI/UX and many creative jobs already should gone by now. But now...Industry is changing and we need to adapt to new changes. When everybody using photoshop to design ..Then Canva comes offer as a template ready mate..But Photoshop never been replaced...so are designers.... There is many website builder without code comes before...but still programmer are needed in the market now. Stop the predict the future..Instead do the job because you want it...because you love. Become an expert of it...Because there is someone always need that expertise from you....

Well...i will have to learn ftont end then. 3rd year, 3rd bootcamp and still not even 1 interview.

At the end of the day, you are also a designer and content creator with some experience. So the reality is fine.😁

This is the fear I have with a lot of professional careers. The reality is you need to work extremely hard and you're competing with so many others who are putting the same if not more effort than you. Is there even a career where you can actually have a chance of succeeding in without spending years to become knowledgeable at?

It's a career you gotta roll with the punches or your not gonna make it out with your sanity that's for sure. I had a very respected professor in design school tell me he didn't think he would make it in the real design world. After 15 years in I understand what he was talking about now. But I doubt the grass is greener in most other jobs.

Man, I just started my UX UI coaching career - we mainly focus on how to get jobs and how to freelance, rather than learning the design, but after this video, I've got a little disappointed :(

Of course, something finally interests me enough and got me contemplating to switch careers, and... it's already dead :

hey you, yes you stop scrolling. i know you want to get out the rat race so you thought about being an ux/ui designer. in order to validate your choice you decide to look for videos for approval. at first you were happy then you saw this video telling why not be a ux. Now your paralyzed and worry until a weeks later he tell you why you should be a ux design. its not his fault his just playing the game. in order for him to keep getting view he you need you to not make decision and constantly consume content . now if i were you, don't do a job that is safe rather become marketable in something you love/passion and go through the good and bad.

Honest video! But I disagree that design is boring. Its never boring unless you make it one.

You're right, keep it up

I need the next video fast really fast... 😢😢😢