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Feel like quitting UX? You’re not alone
The emotional cost of practicing UX, causing burnout, death by learning, and the quarter-life crisis.
UX design is one of those fields where there isn’t, or wasn’t, a direct path into the practice, and as a result I feel we’re generally passionate about what we do. The problem with mixing passion and pleasure though, is you can start to become sick of it. Some days I think it’s simply burnout, but there’s definitely more to it—whether you’re sick of trying to break into the field, or just not changing the world the way you thought you would. Whatever the cause, I’ve outlined a few strategies you can use to take back control of your life.
If you need support, there’s help and information available such as Mental Health UK or Mental Health America.
Early warning signs
Earlier this year the media coined the term “The Great Resignation”—a phenomenon whereby a substantial part of the working population were resigning from their jobs all at once. It didn’t seem to be limited to any industry or profession, either. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, one study found two main reasons people were quitting:
- better compensation
- better work-life balance
While we’ve always wanted more, only now have people been riled up enough to do something about it. Feeling unappreciated, and not receiving in return the value we believe we’re putting in. As a workforce, we’re recognising in ourselves that we deserve better. Some more overdue than others. Specifically as a designer however, there’s some additional factors at play that exacerbate those feelings.
It’s not just you
I caught wind of this Tweet published around a week ago now, and it garnered 764 likes and over 200 replies at the time of writing. What’s more, that doesn’t even count the anonymous direct messages Lisa has solicited either. That’s a…
