Vol. 010 - The Only Way to Improve Your Portfolio Presentation

Hi designers,

Welcome to Vol. 010 of the UX Jetpack Newsletter, where I share job searching tips weekly. This week we are talking about:

1. The only way to improve your portfolio presentation
2. How do you show your learning in your case studies?
3. Salary negotiating strategy
4. UI Gallery

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

The only way to improve your portfolio presentation

There's only one way to improve your portfolio presentation:

Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse.

You want to have a script or notes on what you want to say, but you need to rehearse to memorize them. You never want to read off your script or your slides, it can easily sound robotic.

Here are a few things you need to pay attention to when rehearsing:

1. Time yourself. You usually have limited time for presenting, so you never want to go over time or spend too much time on unimportant information.

2. Take pauses. No one can maintain their attention for 30 minutes straight. Taking frequent pauses can give you and the interviewer time to relax and digest the information.

3. Pay attention to your pace. Remember to change your pace. Speaking at the same speed for 30 minutes can cause the interviewer to lose focus quickly.

4. Ask interviewers questions in between to keep them interested.

5. Have another person listen to you rehearsing. Sometimes what makes sense to you doesn't mean other people will get it. Having another person listen to you, even if they are not a designer, can help you structure your presentation better.

How do you show your learning in your case studies?

🤔 Did you really learn the lesson you said at the end of your case study?

One of the most common sections designer have at the end of their case study is the learning section. It demonstrates self-reflection and a growth mindset.

However, I often come across case studies where designers only mention what they learned at the end, without providing any insight into how they got it in the process.

Here's an example

"It’s good to bring developers early in the design process, so everyone’s on the same page, no surprise at the end of the design process."

But they never mentioned it in the case study, how they collaborate with developers, how they communicate, or how they make compromises.

This gives the impression that the reason you say you learned this, is that it’s a nice thing to say, not it’s the actual thing you learned.

Remember, when you have a genuine learning experience to share, be sure to elaborate on how you got here.

Salary negotiating strategy

People from Candor have prepared a detailed playbook on how you can negotiate the salary you want in the tech industry.

1. Understand tech compensation — use levels & equity to your advantage
2. Figure out your worth — use the right data to value your skills
3. Ask the right questions — gather information from the recruiter
4. The salary negotiation — what to say to walk away happy

Check out https://candor.co/guides/salary-negotiation

UI Gallery

I found this fun little website showing some UI patterns, and you can also interact with it. Super cool to play around.

Website: ui.gallery