Vol. 001 - Job boards for junior UX jobs

Hi designers,

Welcome to the first issue of the UX Jetpack Newsletter, where I share job searching tips weekly. This week we are talking about:

1. Job boards for junior UX jobs
2. Cool startups directories
3. How do you build real world projects without a job
4. How to find out your salary

If you enjoy those tips, please consider sharing them with your friends. They can sign up at https://uxjetpack.com/newsletter

Job boards for junior UX jobs

Many junior designers are currently facing challenges in landing a job. Here are a few job boards that can help you in discovering some unique job opportunities.

1. Ideate Labs Junior UX Job Board https://www.ideatelabs.co/job-board
2. Early Stage Design Jobs https://www.earlystagedesignjobs.com/
3. UI UX Jobs Board https://uiuxjobsboard.com/
4. Design Jobs Board https://www.designjobsboard.com/
5. Uxcel Job Board https://app.uxcel.com/jobs

Cool startups directories

If you're someone who enjoys working for tightly-knit teams with plenty of learning opportunities, even in sometimes chaotic environments, here are a few websites where you can find tons of cool new startups.

1. YC Startup Directory: ycombinator.com/companies
2. Product Hunt: producthunt.com
3. Wellfound Job Board: wellfound.com
4. Designer Fund: designerfund.com/#our-companies
5. AppSumo: https://appsumo.com/

If you believe you're in that top 1% of designers, you can join the talent network of DesignBak, to get matched with top startups. https://www.designbake.com/

How do you build real world projects without a job

To all the fresh bootcamp/design school graduates, here are a couple of ways you can build real-world projects for your portfolios.

1. Leverage your close network Quite possibly the easiest way to start; there might be someone in your network of friends or family members who needs a new website.
2. Apply for volunteer jobs. Check out the volunteer job boards section in my resource list at https://ryanyao.me/ux-ui-resources. You might find some design projects that can help you build up your portfolio.
3. Team up with fellow creators. Join https://www.indiehackers.com/, where tons of creators are looking for partners. If you find the right person, this would be a great opportunity to start your own business.
4. Contribute to open source software. While the job info on https://opensourcedesign.net/ is a bit dated, if you can find an open source software you are interested in, don’t hesitate to connect with the contributors. They might need your design expertise.
5. Join communities to build projects together. Communities like https://techfleet.org/ can help you partner with other professionals to build projects together.
6. Reach out to local startups through LinkedIn or email early stage startups usually really need design help. They don’t always have the bandwidth to hire designers. So, if you can find them and offer help, I’m sure some would appreciate it. I do recommend you charge them for your help.

How to find out your salary

Here are some helpful websites to give you an idea of the market salary range for your UX job level.

1. https://builtin.com/salaries
2. https://www.levels.fyi
3. https://designx.community/salary
4. https://www.uxdesigninstitute.com/blog/ux-designer-salaries-canada/
5. https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=UX_Designer/Salary

Remember, only use this info as your baseline; you always want to negotiate your salary.

Hope you enjoyed this week's issue. Don't forget to share it with your friends.

See you next week,

Ryan Yao