UI/UX Developer Jobs: The Skills Companies Should Be Looking For

It’s no news that the demand for UI/UX designers is steadily increasing, just like the demand for UI/UX developer jobs. Good Google UI/UX design can raise conversion rates by up to 200%, and even greater UX design can improve those rates by up to 400%, according to a study by Forester. This means a solid UI/UX research strategy can help you retain more leads on your website and close a higher percentage of sales.

Still, good UI/UX design depends a lot on the developers you work with. Not everyone is properly skilled at UX research or designing an interactive and engaging website or mobile application. That’s why it’s best to always keep in mind the key skills for all UI/UX developer jobs. Keep reading to learn what skills companies should look for in UI/UX design professionals!

6 must-have UI/UX design skills for UI/UX candidates

Front-end coding.

Front-end design determines the way users interact with your website. This consists of three main programming languages: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and makes up everything visitors see on your site. All UI/UX designers should know the basics of front-end coding so they can communicate with front-end developers to create the best user experience based on the website’s final design. A shared understanding of what it takes to design a strong front-end user experience will help UI/UX candidates communicate better with programmers.

Design thinking.

One critical skill for UI/UX developer jobs is design thinking. This ability is at the very center of UI/UX design and consists of identifying a problem, mapping out potential solutions, iterating those fixes, and creating an efficient solution that can be easily deployed. The UX process of design thinking can be repeated as many times as needed to spot as many problems as possible and develop finalized solutions.

This skill helps UI/UX developers to understand and respond better to users’ behaviors and their ever-changing contexts. It is a necessary skill for UI/UX developer jobs and hiring managers should test candidates to ensure they are knowledgeable enough to master it.

UX research.

UX research is the study of learning the needs and wants of a product or system’s end users to increase their satisfaction. Then, it’s all about deploying a solution that incorporates these insights to improve the design process for different products and software solutions. UI/UX designers need to study a variety of target users and their requirements to integrate more realistic data into their UX process and communicate those insights with front-end developers.

Prototyping.

All UI/UX designers need to test the functionality of their designs. That’s why prototypes ensure there’s an existing match between the target users and the desired system before deployment of the final product starts. It’s easy to test both page functionality and the overall navigation capabilities of the website or mobile application while monitoring for potential trouble spots and going through different iterations.

Visual design.

UI/UX design is a highly visual task, which is why UI/UX designers have to be competent in graphic design and visual language. Graphic design concepts like typography, design theory, layouts, fonts, colors, and icons are very important to help create an engaging user experience for every user on the website.

Agile UX design.

Agile software development is a development methodology that consists of project management practices based on iterative approaches to building a coding product. UI/UX developer jobs require Agile UX design skills since most development teams use the Agile methodology for their projects. UI/UX designers benefit from knowing the basics of the Agile methodologies and the Agile development cycle because it helps them work more efficiently with front and back-end developers.

Looking to hire UI/UX design developers?

UI/UX developer jobs are really in demand right now, with several international UX professionals looking for dynamic work. That’s why it’s the perfect time for companies to start outsourcing their UI/UX design solutions. If you’re searching for qualified UX candidates, at Next Idea Tech we can help you find the right UI/UX designers for a lower hiring cost than if you hired a local professional. Contact us today to learn more about our staff augmentation services!

Sol Dieguez

Sol Natalia Dieguez is an Argentinian writer born in Buenos Aires. Her love for writing flourished from a young age, just as did her passion for the English language. She is currently in her senior year of the Bachelor of Arts in Media and Entertainment Management and works as a copywriter. You can always trust to find her amidst carefully crafted words, whether they come from a technical article, a poem, a blog post, or a short story.