The morning started with a message in Slack from our CEO stating that it would be a difficult day—that the company would be making strategic cuts in deprioritized areas to ensure future success, or something like that. He said that U.S. employees would be receiving layoff notices within the next three hours.

That was ominous, but I had been through a couple rounds of that at Boeing, and we had purposefully kept our team lean in the past year. I hadn’t re-hired when two of my senior analysts retired. Our team was responsible for the only true design system in the company, we had the only mature CX metrics practice, we provided acclaimed facilitation for workshops across our various product portfolios, and we were supporting some of the most strategic, forward-looking initiatives. The value of our team was obvious to everyone we worked with.

Furthermore, I hadn’t been informed of anything. In past rounds of layoffs, I was informed of the employees I would be laying off and provided with information and instructions prior to public announcements. So, it was concerning, but I wasn’t too worried.

I had a weekly meeting with my user analytics team. We talked about the status of the software contracts we were trying to put in place to replace the tools we were borrowing from Boeing. Then we went over the roadmap for the work we’d been planning for Q1.

That call ended, and I jumped over to the workshop that I had organized for our AI adventure team: a group of designers from across the company that I had assembled to figure out how we can best employ AI to aid our work, as well as how to design for AI capabilities within our products. We had spent four hours the previous day, and we had the second half of the workshop to go.

As soon as I joined the call, our lead facilitator told me that he would not be able to lead the rest of the workshop, as he had just been laid off. That was a shock. Then every other person on the call, aside from those in Europe, chimed in with “Me too.” Some of these were people I managed, some were managed by my manager, and some were on product teams. Every designer in the U.S. that was in the workshop had received notice. So, I checked my email, and sure enough, there was a message from the head of product saying he had “important news.”

We all had about an hour and a half before our access would be cut off. Meanwhile, I was getting Slack messages from other direct reports who weren’t in the workshop stating that they just got laid off. The workshop turned into group therapy for a while. I received a text from my manager to let me know that he had been laid off. Then we all agreed to make sure we’re connected through LinkedIn, said our farewells, and signed off.

I spent a little more time sending and responding to messages in Slack, informing people of the situation. And that was that. I shut down my laptop. All the work that I was doing, the plans I was making, the appointments in my calendar… poof.

It was surreal. No wrap-up, wind-down, or hand-off. Non-U.S. employees that I managed not knowing what to think. I spent the rest of my day updating my LinkedIn profile, composing a post to let the world know that I’m #OpenToWork, and then responding to all of the messages expressing surprise, condolences, support, and thanks. I’m blessed to have such a large network of colleagues and friends around the world.

I still find my mind wandering to problems I was trying to solve, issues I had to fix, people I was supporting, and then I remember that they are no longer my responsibilities.

What hurts the most is the dissolution of the team that I had spent so many years cultivating—the working relationships with the people that I was caring for. We’re scattered in Pittsburgh, Seattle, Denver, Austin, Raleigh, Minnesota, India, Sweden, Spain, and Germany. The reality is that, while I spent more hours with these people on a day-to-day basis than with my family, we’ll now only ever occasionally interact through a message on LinkedIn or an occasional SMS.

This is what I posted earlier today on LinkedIn.

Today marked my 25th work anniversary with Boeing. Not that all 25 years were spent at Boeing—it’s inclusive of the 15 years at Inmedius, the small, software development firm Boeing acquired. It’s been an amazing journey. In that time, I have…

Designed and prototyped innovative user interfaces for wearable computers using a physical dial for input (before the iPod made it commonplace)

Demoed a tablet-based UI prototype for Shell oil rig maintainers in Aberdeen, Scotland (long before the iPad)

Performed user research at an oil refinery in the Hague

Visited the offices of DaimlerChrysler in Stuttgart, Germany to demonstrate software concepts designed for automobile technicians

Conducted usability testing on a bomb range with Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians

Designed software currently in use for data logging on all U.S. Navy nuclear vessels

Trained the crews of nine Virginia Class submarines and two aircraft carriers on the use of that software

Visited Navy bases in Pearl Harbor, Norfolk, Groton, San Diego, and Yokosuka to conduct training

Spent a day at the Office of Naval Research while designing ship tracking software for the Coast Guard

Read the NCIS field manual for crime scene investigations as background for designing software tailored for their needs

Observed technicians inspecting C-130s in an MRO facility at Fort Walton Beach

Interviewed technicians at a commercial MRO outside of London

Traveled to Chennai and Hyderabad for office visits

Attended meetings and workshops at Boeing offices in Denver, Seattle, San Diego, Long Beach, Philadelphia, and Austin.

Had the privilege of managing about 37 people

There’s been a lot of really good commentary on the current state of the UX job market. Two years ago, I posted about my experience as a hiring manager.

In January, Jared Spool presented a comprehensive explanation.

Just a week ago, Jon Kolko offered his advice based on his own job hunt.

And only a couple days ago, Uday Gajendar provided his perspective.

Hiring is a lot of work. It’s very important and rewarding work, to be sure, but it’s a lot of work. It can also be very emotional work, if your heart is in it.

I love meeting designers and learning about their backgrounds: how they found design, where it has taken them, and where they’re hoping to go next. I love hearing what their passions are, empathizing with their struggles, and cheering their successes. I love considering what they would bring to the team and how I could help them grow.

And oftentimes, I wish I could hire them all. But that’s not how it works. I have one position to fill, and I can only choose one person to fill it. Sometimes, I can invite them to apply for a different position, but usually, I just have to tell them they didn’t make the cut. Even though I would hire them in a heartbeat, there was somebody else that I determined to be more qualified.

The great resignation has hit UX hard. Even before the pandemic, UX design had the second-highest turnover rate of any occupation according to LinkedIn data. At the same time, designers are in higher demand than they’ve ever been. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting 13% growth through 2030—almost double the average—resulting in 17,900 openings each year. In 2019, there were only 5,607 UX-related degrees granted in the U.S.

This demand has largely been due to the fact that over the past decade, large corporations that once outsourced all their design to studios and consultants realized that while their products and services were benefitting, they were letting those designers walk away with all of the domain and product expertise. To retain the knowledge and experience, they started building internal design teams. In many cases, they realized that the fastest way to build up an internal team was to just acquire the firm that they already had an established relationship with. They already understood the business. So, there has been a rash of design firm buyouts, which is still going on.

The popularity of UX hasn’t gone unnoticed to those looking for a new career. LinkedIn listed UX design in the top five skills companies need most, and it’s in the top 25 of Glassdoor’s best jobs in America. This leads to a lot of career switchers, and they generally aren’t wanting to go back to school full time. That means there is a growing market of people wanting UX education without the expense and time commitment of a full-on degree. Hence, there has been an explosion of certificate programs offering just that. 6 of the 100 most popular, free, online courses are UX courses.

So here we are in a perfect storm. We’ve suffered higher than average attrition, which means that we need to backfill positions with people who have enough experience to jump right in, pick up the ball, and run with it with as little training as possible. In many cases, teams don’t currently have the capacity to train up junior designers. And yet, we have an influx of junior designers that don’t even have a degree, but have just taken a 6-month, online certificate course.

The demand is so high and the supply so low that hiring managers are having to reduce the experience and education requirements just to get enough mid-range candidates. At the same time, there aren’t enough openings for entry-level designers coming out of college.

You know that feeling when you are in the right place at the right time, and you’re doing exactly what you feel called to do, like everything you’ve done up to this point has been preparing you for it?

Sometimes, you won’t have a good reason for your decision.

Sometimes, I really, really want to blame the user.

Sometimes, it’s not just imposter’s syndrome.

Sometimes, the edge case can be ignored.

Sometimes, it doesn’t have to look good.

Sometimes, the logo should be bigger.

Sometimes, the dev’s UI is better.