Resources for UX newbies
A curated list from a Microsoft designer
Currently, I work as a Senior UX Designer at Microsoft, helping to migrate the website to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM). In my spare time, I volunteer as a mentor to support other UX designers.
As a mentor, I regularly receive positive feedback about the resources I share with my mentees.
“Lindsey is amazing! I had been to fifty coffee chats in the last six months, and she is one of the top mentors I met.” — Jenn Holt, Senior UX Designer
During a session, I ask the designer to come prepared with 3–5 thoughtful questions. Based on these questions and their needs, I provide each mentee with a personalized list of resources to help them reach their goals.
To support more designers, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite resources to share below. Feel free to share this collection.
✅ Industry insights
This is the place to start.
If you want to know what I learned in my first year at Microsoft, I would start with reading What I Learned as a Product Designer at Apple (By Andrea Pacheco, Lead Product Designer at Meta, previously at Apple). Pacheco does an amazing job describing how large teams work.
“Projects get built when enough people believe in them.” — Andrea Pacheco
Likewise, if you want to stand out at your company (large or small), I would read How to Get Noticed by Your Boss’s Boss (By Melissa Raffoni). Raffoni's advice is solid and easy to apply.
Lastly, I recommend following these 4 tips to help you get noticed on LinkedIn (By Katie Jacquez, Designer at LinkedIn).
✅ Portfolio + Interview
Sadly, maintaining your portfolio and interviewing are probably the worst parts of being a designer — I have spent countless hours on both. (RIP all my designs I have trashed because I did not feel they were good enough.)
I would watch The UX Interview Process (By femke.designs, Design Lead at Gusto) on YouTube to better understand how UX interviews differ from traditional ones. Her videos are super helpful, so give her a follow.
She also provides a phenomenal video on how to present your portfolio designs in an interview. This is the same presentation deck structure I followed for Microsoft 365, and I got the job! **Thank you, Femke 😘
As for portfolios, there is a lot of conflicting information out there. I recommend starting with how to structure your case study (By Sharon Yeun Kim, UX Design at Colgate) on YouTube. I think it’s full of valuable insights, such as including descriptive headlines for each section. She is another designer I highly recommend following.
✅ Junior vs. Senior
Getting a job in UX is hard (period).
The industry has a shortage of senior UX designers and an excess of entry-level designers. If you know the key difference between them, you can use it to your advantage.
For instance, senior designers focus on the WHY instead of the WHAT. You can learn more about the difference in this UX Career Tips video (By Shu Jian, Senior UX Designer at Google).
Another exceptional video on How To Get From a Junior To Senior (By AJ&Smart) covers what expectations employers have for each by reviewing current job listings. You should check it out 😉!
✅ Book resource
Struggling with a specific topic?
You can utilize the ultimate UX reading list (By Kristian Mikhel, Senior Product Designer at Grab). Mikhel has created a searchable book list with categories such as research, interaction design, and accessibility with filters based on skill level.
**Tip: rent UX books from your local library or purchase them second-hand from retailers such as Abebooks or Thriftbooks
✅ Basic knowledge
An easy way to instantly enhance your design skills is with the 8pt grid system. It uses a mathematical equation to create beautiful layouts. Check out The 8pt Grid System (By Dennis Cortes, Head of Design at Northstar) to learn more about it.
You can also learn about Figma with any of Mizko’s awesome YouTube videos. If you want to work in UX, you must be a Figma pro.
Other industry standards include knowing Agile (Video by Relab Studios) and Accessibility for UX Designers (Video by Treehouse). This list could continue, but these are a few good resources to get you started. Check out the Nielsen Norman Group and Interaction Design Foundation for other must-know skills.
If you found this article helpful, give the 👏👏👏 (clap) button a tap!
