{"id":20401,"date":"2020-06-01T16:00:26","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T15:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/?p=20401"},"modified":"2022-06-01T16:26:07","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T15:26:07","slug":"product-designer-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/product-designer-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking your product design career to the next level"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture this: You\u2019re a product designer with a handful of years on your career path. You\u2019ve cut your teeth on a few big launches and earned your stripes as a solid \u201cmid level\u201d product designer.<\/p>\n

Like many designers, you\u2019re curious and ambitious. You look to the future and ask yourself, where do I want to be this time next year? What about in five years? What\u2019s next for me?<\/p>\n

Developing your product design career as an individual contributor<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a classic fork in the road for product designers who are looking to grow in their career. One career path leads to management<\/strong>: to running teams and projects, to managing people, to creating impact through others. The other path \u2013 the one I\u2019ll focus on in this post \u2013 continues along the journey of the individual contributor<\/strong>: to mastery of the craft of design, leadership without the need to manage<\/a>, and, above all else, shipping great work<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a designer on the management path, a large part of my focus has been to help individual contributor (IC) designers to develop in their role. I\u2019ve been fortunate in that this has given me a valuable perspective on career growth for ICs.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting promoted is usually more nuanced than just nailing a series of discrete tasks\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At product companies, career development for IC designers typically looks like becoming a senior and eventually a principal or staff designer. In my experience, many product designers who aim to achieve one of these positions tend to ask a seemingly simple question: \u201cWhat do I need to do to get promoted?\u201d However, this question rarely has a simple answer.<\/p>\n

Getting promoted is usually more nuanced than just nailing a series of discrete tasks (like shipping a particular project, for example). It also requires consistently demonstrating impact across a broad range of competencies that are often more amorphous (like learning how to think strategically, for example).<\/p>\n

Knowing what you want your next role to be is the first step. Once you do know, you should turn your attention to how to get there. Focus on the means as opposed to the end. Put thoughts of promotions and shiny new titles to the back of your mind and instead focus on your own journey and growth.<\/p>\n

This all sounds simple, but how can it be done in practice? Well, there\u2019s a recipe which I\u2019ve found provides a healthy frame within which IC designers can think about their growth, and it\u2019s one that contains just two simple ingredients: results<\/strong> and behaviors<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Results: The main ingredient of product design career development<\/h2>\n

Product designers who want to stay on the IC path often focus on improving their technical skills in order to achieve career growth. They gain expertise in systems thinking<\/a>, up-level in their prototyping abilities, become killer visual designers. They then use these skills to improve their execution, ship better quality product faster, and get better results.<\/p>\n

Results are the output of the work that you do. As a product designer, results are assessed based on the quality and impact of your design work, based on whether you are shipping \u201cgood design<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0i.e. Your work is:<\/p>\n