Product Design (UX) Salaries and How Much I Made at My First Job

Hi designers! In this video, I talk about Product (UX) Design salaries and share my starting salary for my first design job. I also go into detail about how your salary is determined and what factors you should consider when doing research and negotiating. If you are wondering how much money a UX or Product Designer makes use these resources to find out! 👇
📎 RESOURCES
◦ crew.thecraft.design/
◦ Research Paper on Ask Gap
ninaroussille.github.io/files...
◦ Salary Resources
hired.com/salary-calculator
www.levels.fyi/
www.glassdoor.com/
salary.design/
salary.design/usa-early-stage/
◦ Talk with Femke
superpeer.com/femke/event/090421
✨ FAQ
The Craft was founded by Principal Designer, Sera Tajima. Sera has worked with global tech companies including Webflow, Hired, MessageBird, and Zendesk, prior to starting her own design consulting company.
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💪 SUPPORT THE CRAFT
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[@furquan101]

Thanks for making this video Sara, it's great to hear you talk about the value of choosing a job not just for the salary

[@ireneliao1130]

Thank you for being transparent to share this! It’s really important to know what we deserve! ♥️

[@thanhcul2861]

I cannot agree with you more for all you said in the video! Thanks you so much for being honest and frankly. My situation is just similar to yours, the only difference is that I am managing to reach the design field! Hope one day I can get in your place now! Much money is not equal with happiness in job. 100%!!!

[@kelvinn007]

so relateable and straight forward thanks 💎💎

[@yusefess]

Fantastic as always

[@artistexp1]

Wonderful video. I appreciate you for sharing this information.

[@jules7926]

Thank you for sharing this and for highlighting the differences between gender pay ask as well!!

[@thecraftio]

Hi Jules 👋 My pleasure! I think it’s a very important topic😊

[@shreyasjoshi4867]

I thoroughly enjoyed your input on the matter. Thank you.

[@thecraftio]

Great, glad to hear that! 🙌

[@caesarzkn]

Nice to know you Sera!.

[@tinasachimas]

No ways, I’m from Hawaii too! I’ll be taking the UX Springboard bootcamp in a couple of months too. Awesome video, thank you for your transparency!

[@tinasachimas]

@@thecraftio Oahu, born and raised ☺️ How about you? And thank you!!

[@matthewhoonan7838]

I’m from Hawaii as well! Born and raised on Maui. Best of luck with the course! I’m looking to start a bootcamp too

[@carolinamcgarity2135]

This is wonderfully informative, thank you! I'm in a similar position starting out in Product Design after working in tech but not UX. I'm curious, what was your role at the tech company before starting your Product Design role?

[@carolinamcgarity2135]

@@thecraftio Very cool!

[@sammixoxo]

I appreciate this video. I am a daughter of immigrant parents and this resonated so deeply. Currently learning UX Design with Google to earn a Certificate I'm really stoked to begin a new journey in this Career field. I always had an interest in tech and UX was calling my name.

[@sammixoxo]

@@thecraftio so far I am really enjoying the program

[@saki.sakura.k]

I'm in the same boat and also just started the Google UX Design Certificate course! Best of luck to you Samantha :D

[@FrancisLeoni]

@@sammixoxo Hey I'm currently taking Google UX Certificate too! Just wanna know hows the update after leaving this comment for 5 months? Best luck! ❤️

[@The_business_Podcast]

Do you recommend Google course for beginners ?? Thank you in advance

[@thetealloonproject2649]

@@The_business_Podcast it’s pretty good for beginners, but I highly recommend actual mentorship so that your projects look more professional.

[@Interstellarsun]

bout to work it out !

[@LightsaberPanda]

I know I'm seeing this late, but thank you so much for mentioning salary. I definitely want to be making much more whiile maintain some level of work-life balance, however I do realize money doesn't equal happiness.

[@thecraftio]

Hey Kelvin! So glad you enjoyed this. Its really true, salary won't bring you happiness. It comes from within. That being said get paid what you deserve. 😊

[@Diana-yr8kr]

Hi this is very useful as I'm considering a total career change into design. May I ask what was your job in the tech company before switching to a designer job? Thank you 🙏

[@thecraftio]

Hi Diana, yes of course. Prior to becoming a designer I was an instructional designer for developers at Zendesk (created learning content).

[@ahmedabohay6322]

Sera .. you are rocking it LOL

[@sadasa9]

Hi Sera, thank you for the great content, what do you think about salaries now, with people being able to work remotely from home.

[@sadasa9]

@@thecraftio Thank you Sera for your prompt reply! I have also emailed you about pursuing a career in UX UI Design, I was hoping if you can help me with any tips in how to best plan ahead and how to best approach this always a bit eerie shift in life, thank you!

[@sadasa9]

@@thecraftio Thanks Sera! Much appreciated.

[@aztecblue6383]

What were the hours looking like in relation to the salary?

[@sphe_handy4653]

Hi @The Craft with Sera Tajima, How is important when you are a UI/UX website designer. What is it that I should focus on and what I should not pay attention to that much

[@jacopocontin]

Transparency is THE key to equality.

[@thecraftio]

Absolutely. 🙌

[@andrewlucas3681]

Great point in that women don't ask or negotiatiate salary or raises, but research also shows that there are negative consequences when they do.

[@andrewlucas3681]

@@thecraftio Yeah, so in a post by Harvard Business Review 'Why Women Don’t Negotiate Their Job Offers'. tl;dr They found there to be no "social cost" when men negotiate for more, but there is a significant cost for women. The social cost being "evaluators were less inclined to work with the same employee after seeing him or negotiate". Which is a factor in why women ask for less, or don't ask at all.

[@sarveshgupta9537]

Is this is sufficient to seek from your videos nad learn UI - UX from here only ????or we have to get a full course of this seperately with a popular organization or institute ?

[@thecraftio]

Hey, I'm not sure if I've understood your question correctly but I would definitely recommend not only learning from KZbin videos. If you're interested in a course, my new one will be 60% off until the end of this month: www.the-craft.io/course-early-access. You can also check out Google's UX course.

[@roter13]

I hate when employers ask about salary during interviews. I'm like, can I see if I even really want to work here first? thanks for this video.

[@jhillustrates-artbyjeannie4250]

I find if they ask during the first interview it's not the right fit for me. Though, I have been able to flip it and ask them what their salary range is. If they don't know that's an instant red flag.

[@tequishamcdearmon9152]

Very good video

[@thecraftio]

Thanks Tequisha!! Glad you liked it. 😊

[@JaleelBeig]

4:27 I feel this would be obvious but I've not thought of it that way until now. If a person is invited to a buffet, wisdom is to not hog up everything alone. We need only so much. Thus we can see why people choose philanthropy. It will become a burden managing & safeguarding numbers that keep piling up. When a person does something with that much wealth, that's greater than his own desires, like charity, then they'd be more stable. Sorry for the philosophical lecture, it just struck me how obvious it would be 😅

[@thecraftio]

No need to apologize! It's nice to hear how your brain processes the concept; we completely agree! Sometimes something is so obvious that you never realize it because you think the obvious answer is just too easy to make sense.

[@slack.]

I’m a UX designer in Kenya 🇰🇪 and I’m looking for remote jobs abroad, how much would i get considering I’m working remotely and how would I negotiate for a fair pay as a non resident?

[@slack.]

@@thecraftio not looking for UX rates in Kenya.. I’m saying I’m in Kenya but looking for work remotely abroad Europe,US etc. You get me?

[@julietlaney2776]

@@slack. You would need to look for contract work (independent contractor) rather than look for jobs as an employee. If you're an employee many companies won't employ you at all across borders, or if you find one that does, they will pay you market rate in your location. But as a contractor you will demand a much higher hourly rate (without benefits) and since the employer doesn't pay taxes etc, it's more flexible on your location. I'm not super familiar with how available contract work is as a product designer but my advice holds true for basically all types of work.

[@josephd4725]

Can you tell me what kind of mic that is? Thinking of getting one, thanks. 😃

[@thecraftio]

Hey Joseph, this is a snowball mic but if you're starting our I would recommend elgato and if you have a sizeable budget, I would recommend Shure.

[@joye4632]

Is it possible to get a job right out of bootcamp? Or should you first try to get an internship?

[@Cool_Goose]

I agree that you don't need to take an internship imho.

[@x2pm]

fulltime is all luck, it’s not impossible but super hard to get in the door. If you go to contractor route you will have more exposure of different companies style.

[@stevenstrong9448]

This is my question. How do you get a job after boot camp

[@thecraftio]

You can start applying right away. But in the interim having an internship or doing some freelancing will be very helpful in answering the interview questions. Most companies are weary of hiring first timers. Having real experience can counteract that.

[@pppinto97]

I worked in a startup and I know that under an experienced boss, you end up learning in 6 months; what would take you 3-4 years but for immigrants the main concern while coming to SF is weather that company can sponsor the employee's H1 visa for citizenship

[@pppinto97]

@@thecraftio Its great if you could make a video on it, as it is pertinent for SV to attract all kinds of talent in regardless of their background

[@sushantvaid1893]

What is your skin care routine?

[@sushantvaid1893]

@@thecraftio oh m G 😂😂 your efforts are showing 100% results, I'm from India, And I just use aloe vera, didn't help much

[@sushantvaid1893]

@@thecraftio you're welcome ❤️, BTW I'm preparing to study Human centered Design in canada, what do you think what is the demand of ux research/design right now ?

[@samuelopatola3870]

in what establishments can a UI/UX designer work?

[@samuelopatola3870]

@@thecraftio Yes, I'm sorry the question wasn't clear. but, I'll be sure to check out the link you shared.Thank you.

[@CharleneDandelion]

I’m curious what your current salary is in the Netherlands, as I myself am Dutch. It’s a pity the salary talk is being avoided here in the netherlands

[@CharleneDandelion]

@@thecraftio really! I never knew that. That is quite odd! Yeah they always give like a really broad amount in brackets but never precise. I often try the conversation but it always boils down to: ‘it’s not chique to talk salaries and a bit rude to ask something so personal’. A real shame! I think a lot of women get paid less because they don’t know what their male colleagues earn because of this stigma.

[@CharleneDandelion]

@@thecraftio I would love a video about your benefits as an expat, that is so interesting! Yeah I agree completely with you. It may have to do with the cheap/greedy attitude of dutchies hehe (we like it either cheap, free or all you can get/eat lol!)

[@ysd6576]

My first salary was zero as intern designer, than $4 200 per year and now around $10 800 per year(after taxes). So salaries like 130 000$ blow my mind. Because even my team lead/art director can get only 60 000$ (after taxes). So you making as team lead + art director with zero experience. 🤯🔥 P.S: I'am working in big company with capitalization 7 billion dollars. I guess the reason of low salaries = low cost of living + bad eсonomy of country.

[@thecraftio]

Thank you for sharing that! 😊 It’s all relative to the cost of living in your location. I can see that discrepancy being a bit shocking!

[@cjameson]

Informative yet depressing.

[@_NEW3RA_]

The definition of riches vary.

[@The_business_Podcast]

I want half this salary 😭 Hope you the best 🌹

[@thecraftio]

Hi! Thank you Hamza😊

[@caseykendall]

What level of experience were you at to make $140k? (Junior, senior, etc)

[@thecraftio]

It was my first design role.😊

[@thecraftio]

I would attribute it more to already working in tech.

[@winterbear5959]

​@@thecraftio can u tell me the roadmap?

[@thecraftio]

@@winterbear5959 hey there, can you give me more information on what you're looking for here? What roadmap are you referring to?

[@Kevin-hp2zx]

UX design is product design? I thought product design was another word for industrial design.

[@Kevin-hp2zx]

@@thecraftio thats so strange. i don’t get why they wouldn’t stick to UX design when product design is already an existing field.

[@technocatdance]

Vancouver and Toronto canada UX jobs start at 50k and apartments start at 2k per month, (after tax take home of $1500 every 2 weeks)by the numbers it would be impossible for me to get a place of my own and spend less than half of my pay cheque, paying 2-3 k per month rent while making 130k yearly in SF is way better than my cities situation😭 I am not trying to be some hater but by the numbers (percentage of pay to cost of living) I would rather be in san francisco!!

[@thecraftio]

Interesting. I’m not too familiar with the canadian market. The good news is because of remote work I hear it’s becoming more competitive. It’s also impossible to buy a house in SF on 130k. All the houses are easily over 1 mil and there’s a lot of wealthy ppl in the city so they buy in cash and bid higher than market. 🥲

[@technocatdance]

@@thecraftio We have the same problem 2 bedroom condos in vancouver are around 900k and up, all the houses are well over a million and get bought up by cash buyers paying over asking price. Only issue is here in canada even the senior UX aren't getting 130k a year senior here is like 80-100k at best. I would say at least you live in the states where UX jobs do pay easily over 100k wish that was even a thing here): how do we get canadian companies to get pay like the states does🤔

[@rashikasliwal2791]

If pay is not everything then why are we negotiating?🤷🏻‍♀️

[@RuthMcDougal]

I think also, just because pay is not everything, it’s still something. We still work to survive, pay bills, etc. One of my friends (a woman with years experience) worked at a job, struggling with bills, considering a second job…well, she worked at a corporation for a few years, doing majority of mentoring and on boarding others, managing the complete homepage, and was making about $10 less per hour vs the new hire (a less experienced person)!! She wasn’t upset at him personally for getting around $20k more, but she was upset that she hadn’t asked or felt comfortable negotiating and was struggling to make ends meet. It really did affect her as she stressed herself out over the job. When she did negotiate she started feeling better, like as least she tried versus accepting whatever the company says initially. (This was a huge corporation not a startup.)

[@samuelopatola3870]

Hi, I'm am a student who has already started learning UI/UX. Can I E-mail you?