The Bag of Skills: Building Resiliency into Your UX Career While the Market Catches Up
Summary
User experience research and design work used to flow from discrete requests. The deliverables were usually predictable: a flow, a prototype, a readout. Now the work is closer to the decision process, in roadmap reviews, scoping conversations, and needs assessment meetings, listening for assumptions and helping teams figure out what questions to ask and how to make sense of ambiguity. Job postings haven't caught up to that shift: most still describe the execution service role, even as the function becomes something more strategic. Peter Van Dijck and Mary Aviles make a practical case that a deliberately packed "bag of skills" travels even when titles don't. Whether you're job searching, changing direction, or deciding where to invest your professional development, you'll leave knowing which skills bring value and concrete moves you can make immediately.
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