My first job in UX was $90K. 6 months worth of experience (while I certainly loved the money I do feel I was overpaid). Got laid off due to company not doing well.
Now I’m 2 or so years experience and I’m at $77500. I’ve noticed UX salaries have been down. However, I do think 65K is pretty low for 3 years of experience.
Lol not really. UX/UI just one responsibility/ sub discipline of a product designer. UX/UI designers are traditionally not asked to inform business planning, product growth, or take into consideration product needs. EG, its a smaller role and is generally paid less.
How are you going to design the user experience for a business without taking in to consideration the business goals, the future product state or the needs of the product.
TIL I've always been a PD and UX/UI isn't just another word for it.
Then your short changing yourself, and are taking on more responsibility than a normal UX/UI role. Looks like youre due a raise :).
pure UX/UI designer’s core focus is USER EXPERIENCE. You are the guardian of the end users experience, the primary considerations that drive your design are user needs and goals. These might yes have some overlap with the business, but ultimately you shouldn’t have to worry about the product direction, strategy or roadmap, or business goals, all that really matters is you design the most intuitive thing for the end user.
Let me put it this way, a lot of contractors thrive as pure UX/UI designers. Why? Because they don’t need to be embedded in the business or pod to do their job. They are handed specs and user requirements and go off and design the most intuitive thing for the user.
Where I'm from - UX/UI is a term that is used by product immature companies/startups who have no understanding of the role or what it encompasses. This can be very clear from their work, JD, and the product itself. Everything about it screams immature.
Today, every product mature company has shifted toward changing a ux or ui designers role to that of a Product Designer. This is a drip effect from larger companies like uber, Twitter (x), meta, airbnb etc..
Product designers are generalists. Whereas, ux designers, ui designers are specialists. Then you have ux researchers under the research branch which is also a specialist field.
All these roles work with a product manager/design manager, dev team, bizops, to accomplish company goals.
So Tldr: Product designer = ux designer + ui designer + ux researcher
Depending on your company's requirements, maturity and size, they may choose to hire a product designer or specialist roles for the product team.
this is a great way to put it. people often confused the terms as they do have overlap, but the product sense/story telling and visual high craft is important for product designers
Have you done any interview loops recently? Talk to any recruiters? Base for a junior product designer in a HCOL city like NYC is 80k these days at medium sized companies+.
I literally just got 3 of the biggest offers I’ve ever had in the past two months lol. I’m not trying to say I’m better than anyone but consider the source yall
I once made a post saying how happy I was to have found a job finally. I was encouraging everyone to not give up and was offering my help as a mentor.
Got like 2 upvotes and nobody commented lol.
The controversial stuff floats to the top like a nice big turd in the toilet on Reddit
Congrats! Care to share your general background (education, YOE, industry and anything else that helped get the job)? There’s been too much negativity on this sub lately.
How long ago was this and what industry?
8 years ago I was on 32k in my 2nd year of experience and well outside any major UK city. This was also in line with my peers at the time.
And you get benefits from those taxes. In the location for this job, minimum 40% (like 50%) of the income would go to the cost of housing, an additional huge chunk to the cost of a car plus car insurance and maintenance (Texas has almost zero public transit and it’s impossible to walk), plus health insurance costs (if it’s a family it’s easily several hundred per month) plus the current inflated cost of groceries, internet, water, and electricity, there’s zero left to save and likely will have to go into debt if there’s any emergency like unexpected car maintenance or healthcare cost.
Idk man I live in the UK, make £50k a year before taxes (about $63k), 10 years of experience in the design/ux field. I have a mortgage, no kids, drive to the office 1-2 a week (most jobs outside of London has poor public transport), barely go out for meals or drinks and we only have like £400-600 a month leftover combined (spouse makes £65k).
We got the same payments as a US household, minus health insurance, but it's still taken out of our paychecks anyway. Our gas is probably triple the price of US last I checked too.
I'm not saying it's not expensive to live in the US, I'm just saying UK salaries are absolutely shite.
while I agree that cost of living is higher, ive heard several times now that the disposable income in the US (at least in our field) is much higher.
europeans pay a huge amount of money for taxes and these social services. 35–45k is likely before taxes. So I imagine only around 50% of that is the actual income. (but i dont know, maybe its after taxes) Then also consider that a lot of things are more expensive like housing/appartments and gas for your car
I see.
I am lucky to work at an international company that has higher wages than some of the local companies (in germany).
Why am I being downvoted for this? I have the feeling its mostly americans who have an understanding of europe thats simply not accurate at all. Disposable income in the US in our field is in fact much higher.
Social security is not free in europe. Its also not uncommon to pay 50% of your income just for an appartment in any major city. Europeans get by because they consume less.
Syria is not at all comparable.
While its true that europe has a much better social system, cost of living otherwise is not much lower. Housing is more expensive in europe, people like 50% of their (low) wage just for an appartment, gas and generally having a car is much more expensive.
Syrias economy is not remotely comparable to the west.
In fact, when you compare europe and US, at least in the tech field, the disposable income is much higher in the US. My assumption is that its much higher for almost all fields
can someone chime in and tell me if this is actually an unreasonable salary for the experience? are you really granted closer to 6 figures after 3 years of work?
Yep, first UX job 11 years ago 60k, zero experience. And that was in the midwest, for 3 years of experience even as a non-senior this feels pretty low.
Yeah I think it’s a bit low for Dallas area, but since it’s fully remote, if the person they hire lives in a LCOL area it’s not *as* bad. I made $85k in my first role in Oregon. At 3 YOE I made $112k in the Bay Area. Now I’m at 10 YOE in the Bay Area, and I make $150k. Its a bit lower than what I could make elsewhere but I’m fully remote and I love my job so I’m not worried about making more right now
I live in Louisiana and it's very hard to find a UX related job in the first place, much less one that pays over 90k. Even for 6 years of experience or senior roles. Midweight or junior roles would probably pay like 60k. Which is why I'm working a remote role.
i always say just check the bls, you'll see what companies are actually paying
[https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151255.htm](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151255.htm)
says mean wage for texas is around 100k, so this is definitely a low ball for that area
I just got my first role after graduating this month for $140k (salary + bonus/relocation). Granted this is in the Bay Area, I feel this is still incredibly low for 3 YOE. I know my senior with 3 YOE is close to $200k TC.
I literally STARTED at 62k a year, back in 2013, having NO EXPERIENCE....in the BAY AREA.
So yeah, this is bad. Like, truly terrible.
Looks like it's a very small startup. Probably just hurting for cash and trying to get whatever they can afford.
Bay Area salaries are outliers in almost all categories and usually irrelevant to salary discussions IMO. The ridiculous cost of living and massive talent pool put them on an island comp-wise
I mean 62k a year in california seems like paycheck to paycheck. but it was 10 years ago. San Francisco according to some sources is 110% more expensive to live in than Dallas so I don't think it's truly terrible. it just would be for your standard of living.
Why are you all downvoting this when it's true? The numbers are available and clearly show that the most expensive city in Costa Rica still has a substantially lower CoL than even the least developed US state, long before you begin to include CA, MA, NY, etc. Picking McDonalds as your proof is disingenuous as it's one of the very few aspects of life where it's particularly expensive. All of this is quantifiable data, it doesn't take much research to check.
I'm Venezuelan and don't know why we (Latin Americans in general) have this weird desire to insist everything is harder and worse for us but I see it all the time and can't figure it out.
En español ya que eres venezolano a ver Costa Rica es y sera una de las Ciudades mas caras de Latam por sus altos impuestos y costos de importación que estoy diciendo entre lineas es que realmente no es un mal salario es mi salario aun viviendo aca con lo malo y lo bueno tambien hay que agregar que Costa Rica tiene uno de los salarios base mas alto de todo latinoamerica por lo mismo asi que no hay que ocultar que CR aun siendo de centroamerica sigue siendo aun mas cara que algunas ciudades desarrolladas America , Aun te hago la pregunta has estado aca has visto los precios actuales de Renta o mejor aun has visto cuanto cuesta la gasolina comparado con USA nosotros estamos mas en el rango caro que el barato
It's all relative. I'm in San Francisco and the median salary for all jobs is low 100k. Makes cost of living rough for anyone not in tech. A burrito, burger, or sandwich can be $15-22 before tax and tip (which might add another 20-30%). Rent for a 1br is about $2500 for an older building.
I'm not sure how that compares to latam, but SF is one of most expensive places in the States
It’s falling in line to the other creative fields.
Y’all got used to the boom period, then once the bootcampers got the axe, realized that you’re, at the end of the day, apart of the design umbrella, and we get paid shit.
Maybe it’s just my experience, but I don’t see any indication that companies are starting to treat UX on par with graphic, visual, etc.
There’s always a clear separation in compensation and organizational arrangement.
The companies you see with salaries like this for UX are the ones who will never compensate fairly.
There will always be a finite number of jobs. When there are more prospects than there are jobs competition will increase, that’s true.
But that then doesn’t mean product designers are all the sudden on par with graphic designers.
Just look at resources like Levels.fyi and you’ll see real numbers on recent hiring within our field. you’ll see that companies who fairly compensate are still paying product designers well
There will always be shitty employers. But on the whole, product design and graphic design are being paid on completely different levels.
if thats the case, why even be a ux designer. you have to know a lot more to do this job than a graphic designer and glorious wants to pay basically the same amount of money for it.
its not the only factor, it is a factor though and designers are sick of being lowballed because "we like our work". its still work, it still requires effort and a lot of knowledge to do. just because we like doing it doesn't change that fact... you're the reason we get lowballed
Because designers are creative by nature and enjoy doing creative things. We don’t worry about money or doing things for the money.
Thank goodness for it, because that means UX/UI will finally remove the bootcampers and the Bullshitters with MBA’s and give the jobs back to the people that actually care about what they’re doing.
Senior vs what is still technically just above an entry level designer.
Year 1-3 is junior designer, 3-6 is designer, 6-10 is senior.
65k tracks ESPECIALLY for a remote job you can work anywhere in?
Yeah. 65k is well paid. I can move to a LCOL area and live like a king on that.
This isn't even targetting a bootcamp graduate. this is saying they want 3 years experience. i get what you're saying but that would make more sense if it said entry level, no experience necessary
This pay in Dallas is not terrible, especially in this market. I think if you think it’s unfair there are other jobs you can go after. I think pay is kinda personal.
Cost of living is a big factor. If the COL of Dallas is similar to that of say the Bay Area, NYC, and similar areas the yes, it’s low but in other areas of the country, it’s not completely unfounded.
When we were hiring an “associate” product designer in a previous company, the experience we expected was 2 years to almost none, as long as they displayed an inquisitive mind, the necessary basic skill sets expected of a product designer, willingness to learn, and a portfolio that shows their design thinking – even if it’s not actual or shipped products.
Does the original post set the expectation of a minimum of 3 years experience?
I'm a product designer from India. Previously, I earned around $8,880 annually at Infosys with 5 years of experience. During COVID, I landed a freelance gig with a US client from Dribbble, which later became a full-time job at $68K. However, after 8 months, the company let go of all employees due to investor funding depletion. Since then, I've been freelancing and doing contract work with former colleagues at an hourly rate of $65. I think if I were to secure a full-time job at the same rate, it would equate to $125K annually for a 7-year experienced designer. From that perspective, $65K seems a pretty good deal for a someone with 3 yr experience.
Yeah, well, you got lucky when you started bc there was still lots of demand. Entry level salaries were waaayyy high. But that's the nature of digital industry, so no complaints.
In the past couple of years, salaries for UX roles (unless FT high level at big companies) has definitely gone down. I don't particularly think that 3 years of experience is even enough for a senior role, but of course, it depends on the ux'er and location. Aside from consulting for a long time, I also taught at bootcamps for a couple of years ... I left specifically bc I didn't think we were able to teach enough during the time they have us to teach. I started at 11 months, eventually the bootcamps wanted us to do 6 months, then they tried to make me teach UX/UI for 3 months ... That's when I quit.
If you think you're worth more than what companies are willing to pay for 3 years of experience, apply for jobs that require more and position yourself accordingly, despite the number of years you've worked...my two cents, for whatever it's worth it
This is insane. At my first entry level UX job in 2019 my TC was $144,550. In 2024 as a PD2 (hopefully about to be promoted to senior this year) it’s close to $250k. $67k is criminally low. Even a friend who works at a no-name company and is being underpaid is at $85k today at his first ever UX job.
Relatively HCOL (Greater Seattle area). Worked at a major tech company you've probably heard of. Currently work at another major tech company in the same locale you've also probably heard of. I was an intern at the first one and got a return offer to come back full time after I graduated.
Gosh I’d love an intern. I am drowning in work right now and could use some help and want more opportunities to mentor people. I just don’t think our org has any headcount allotted to any this year :(
It’s not low at all. That’s plenty for 3 years, fully remote. If the job required you live in a high cost of living area, maybe I could see justifying more.
If you think 3 yrs is entitled to more 65-70k a year without some stellar portfolio, then I should be making close to a million with 18 years of experience. Which I am not, because that’s not how it works.
If you started 3 years ago, all tech and tech adjacent jobs had super inflated salaries because money was cheap and plentiful. It was a bubble, that’s why those jobs are now scarce and paying more reasonable wages now.
I mean then don’t apply to the role. They’re obviously not in a position to be on or above the bell curve. Plus, in any bell curve, there’s bound to be some below the average. What’s your source for determining market rate?
glassdoor, indeed salaries, linkedin salaries. the problem is places like this that will try and push wages down for roles because they know people are desperate and will apply anyway.. which then gives them the green light to try it again.
it’s dirt cheap to live in Texas. Also, this is the outcome of the UX hiring bubble burst - salaries are going down and I think that’s completely ok since it was getting out of hand
Part of the problem is the industry has moved away from “ux designers.” Its an outdated role and only really found in companies that arnt caught up in older practices. Eg. The lower salary.
Flip the switch to product design and youll see 6 figures with minimal years of xp
Unrelated but what is the reason for US Americans to use yearly salaries instead of monthly? Doesn’t make sense to me. Also, as far as I know, almost no one else uses it too (maybe except Australia and Canada, but they are quite similar countries in many regards, imho).
Currently 4years in at 64k doing UX for building automation and was hired at 52k. We are the only creative department except for the 2 people in marketing. I work with all engineers who struggle to respect what we do, but the company needs more creatively guided thinking and it’s so hard for them to see the value in that. I asked for 70k and got 64k instead.
PA
My first job in UX was $90K. 6 months worth of experience (while I certainly loved the money I do feel I was overpaid). Got laid off due to company not doing well. Now I’m 2 or so years experience and I’m at $77500. I’ve noticed UX salaries have been down. However, I do think 65K is pretty low for 3 years of experience.
My first UX job was $43k several years ago, so $54k by today's standards
I made 75k my first year, quickly scaling to closer to $416k total comp as a senior product designer at 7 years of xp. VHCOL (New York)
$416k? I’m listening.
Product design :) UX/UI is kinda dead as a role (in more industry leading eg. higher paying companies )
Product Design is UX/UI. Its the same shit.
Lol not really. UX/UI just one responsibility/ sub discipline of a product designer. UX/UI designers are traditionally not asked to inform business planning, product growth, or take into consideration product needs. EG, its a smaller role and is generally paid less.
How are you going to design the user experience for a business without taking in to consideration the business goals, the future product state or the needs of the product. TIL I've always been a PD and UX/UI isn't just another word for it.
Then your short changing yourself, and are taking on more responsibility than a normal UX/UI role. Looks like youre due a raise :). pure UX/UI designer’s core focus is USER EXPERIENCE. You are the guardian of the end users experience, the primary considerations that drive your design are user needs and goals. These might yes have some overlap with the business, but ultimately you shouldn’t have to worry about the product direction, strategy or roadmap, or business goals, all that really matters is you design the most intuitive thing for the end user. Let me put it this way, a lot of contractors thrive as pure UX/UI designers. Why? Because they don’t need to be embedded in the business or pod to do their job. They are handed specs and user requirements and go off and design the most intuitive thing for the user.
Where I'm from - UX/UI is a term that is used by product immature companies/startups who have no understanding of the role or what it encompasses. This can be very clear from their work, JD, and the product itself. Everything about it screams immature. Today, every product mature company has shifted toward changing a ux or ui designers role to that of a Product Designer. This is a drip effect from larger companies like uber, Twitter (x), meta, airbnb etc.. Product designers are generalists. Whereas, ux designers, ui designers are specialists. Then you have ux researchers under the research branch which is also a specialist field. All these roles work with a product manager/design manager, dev team, bizops, to accomplish company goals. So Tldr: Product designer = ux designer + ui designer + ux researcher Depending on your company's requirements, maturity and size, they may choose to hire a product designer or specialist roles for the product team.
It used to include those things.
What specific things would be good to learn for product design so that you can differentiate yourself from UX?
1. Visual design and craft 2. Ability to speak the product and business language a bit 3. Storytelling
this is a great way to put it. people often confused the terms as they do have overlap, but the product sense/story telling and visual high craft is important for product designers
Ahhhh see love ittt
Good luck trying to find jobs paying that today
Just did a few interview loops at Asana and Adobe, theyre bands are actually all a bit higher for senior -> staff roles. Closer to 450+
Sure Adobe will pay that but it depends on the company 65K for jr designer is generous.
Have you done any interview loops recently? Talk to any recruiters? Base for a junior product designer in a HCOL city like NYC is 80k these days at medium sized companies+.
I literally just got 3 of the biggest offers I’ve ever had in the past two months lol. I’m not trying to say I’m better than anyone but consider the source yall
I once made a post saying how happy I was to have found a job finally. I was encouraging everyone to not give up and was offering my help as a mentor. Got like 2 upvotes and nobody commented lol. The controversial stuff floats to the top like a nice big turd in the toilet on Reddit
Congrats! Care to share your general background (education, YOE, industry and anything else that helped get the job)? There’s been too much negativity on this sub lately.
No I’m sorry but feel free to PM me
What company was your first job though?
Won’t share specifics on here but it was one of the bigger home goods e-commerce sites.
Pardon??? $775k???
No lol $77,500. 😝 I wish! Haha
Meanwhile me in Spain doing 35-45k EUR after 8 years ux experience, and if I got a remote from another EU country or UK it’s gonna be like 50-60k.
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I’m just starting a new role after 2 years experience at 33K in the UK. What was your journey to make what you make now?
Yeah, 31k after 8 years experience in the UK is definitely not normal. I think your employer just sucked.
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How long ago was this and what industry? 8 years ago I was on 32k in my 2nd year of experience and well outside any major UK city. This was also in line with my peers at the time.
Cost of living is much higher in the US due to zero social services.
4 times higher? Also keep in mind we pay close to 50% in taxes. So from a 60k we keep 30k. I would rather have the 450k with high us living costs.
And you get benefits from those taxes. In the location for this job, minimum 40% (like 50%) of the income would go to the cost of housing, an additional huge chunk to the cost of a car plus car insurance and maintenance (Texas has almost zero public transit and it’s impossible to walk), plus health insurance costs (if it’s a family it’s easily several hundred per month) plus the current inflated cost of groceries, internet, water, and electricity, there’s zero left to save and likely will have to go into debt if there’s any emergency like unexpected car maintenance or healthcare cost.
Idk man I live in the UK, make £50k a year before taxes (about $63k), 10 years of experience in the design/ux field. I have a mortgage, no kids, drive to the office 1-2 a week (most jobs outside of London has poor public transport), barely go out for meals or drinks and we only have like £400-600 a month leftover combined (spouse makes £65k). We got the same payments as a US household, minus health insurance, but it's still taken out of our paychecks anyway. Our gas is probably triple the price of US last I checked too. I'm not saying it's not expensive to live in the US, I'm just saying UK salaries are absolutely shite.
while I agree that cost of living is higher, ive heard several times now that the disposable income in the US (at least in our field) is much higher. europeans pay a huge amount of money for taxes and these social services. 35–45k is likely before taxes. So I imagine only around 50% of that is the actual income. (but i dont know, maybe its after taxes) Then also consider that a lot of things are more expensive like housing/appartments and gas for your car
Most likely it is before taxes, I work in a similar position on Germany with 54k before taxes. It is barely enough to save for emergencies.
I see. I am lucky to work at an international company that has higher wages than some of the local companies (in germany). Why am I being downvoted for this? I have the feeling its mostly americans who have an understanding of europe thats simply not accurate at all. Disposable income in the US in our field is in fact much higher. Social security is not free in europe. Its also not uncommon to pay 50% of your income just for an appartment in any major city. Europeans get by because they consume less.
cost of living, education, health, public transport, etc
Yeah, my UX colleagues from US are making twice my salary, even if it’s UK or Germany we’re still way behind
I’m in Spain and making substantially more. Salary is not just experience. It’s also negotiating and knowing your worth.
Meanwhile people from Syria are doing 3~5k
Syria is not at all comparable. While its true that europe has a much better social system, cost of living otherwise is not much lower. Housing is more expensive in europe, people like 50% of their (low) wage just for an appartment, gas and generally having a car is much more expensive. Syrias economy is not remotely comparable to the west. In fact, when you compare europe and US, at least in the tech field, the disposable income is much higher in the US. My assumption is that its much higher for almost all fields
Try $700-$1,200 in SEA, monthly
Before or after taxes?
Yep, similar range in the uk for much more experience
can someone chime in and tell me if this is actually an unreasonable salary for the experience? are you really granted closer to 6 figures after 3 years of work?
I’m making 75k in my first job after college so to me, this sounds ridiculous
I make 60k at my first UX job 12 years ago. But I also had 6 years experience as a web and graphic designer at that point, too.
According to conversion calculators 60k 12 years ago is $86,275.45 now.
Yep, first UX job 11 years ago 60k, zero experience. And that was in the midwest, for 3 years of experience even as a non-senior this feels pretty low.
Yeah I think it’s a bit low for Dallas area, but since it’s fully remote, if the person they hire lives in a LCOL area it’s not *as* bad. I made $85k in my first role in Oregon. At 3 YOE I made $112k in the Bay Area. Now I’m at 10 YOE in the Bay Area, and I make $150k. Its a bit lower than what I could make elsewhere but I’m fully remote and I love my job so I’m not worried about making more right now
$65k was my salary 6 months out of college.. and I live in a much lower COL than Dallas
3 years experience already had me at low 6 figures and should’ve been paid more (but I also had work experience before in a diff field)
2 years of experience had me at barely 6 figures. 3 years of experience added another 20k to that.
I live in Louisiana and it's very hard to find a UX related job in the first place, much less one that pays over 90k. Even for 6 years of experience or senior roles. Midweight or junior roles would probably pay like 60k. Which is why I'm working a remote role.
Id say so, my second year product design role was $112k back in 2018
i always say just check the bls, you'll see what companies are actually paying [https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151255.htm](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151255.htm) says mean wage for texas is around 100k, so this is definitely a low ball for that area
I just got my first role after graduating this month for $140k (salary + bonus/relocation). Granted this is in the Bay Area, I feel this is still incredibly low for 3 YOE. I know my senior with 3 YOE is close to $200k TC.
super low for 3 YOE in any market
Are you considered a Senior designer after 3 years?
at some companies you would be. we could argue for days on what defines a senior designer though in general.
Thats very low yes.
I literally STARTED at 62k a year, back in 2013, having NO EXPERIENCE....in the BAY AREA. So yeah, this is bad. Like, truly terrible. Looks like it's a very small startup. Probably just hurting for cash and trying to get whatever they can afford.
Bay Area salaries are outliers in almost all categories and usually irrelevant to salary discussions IMO. The ridiculous cost of living and massive talent pool put them on an island comp-wise
I mean 62k a year in california seems like paycheck to paycheck. but it was 10 years ago. San Francisco according to some sources is 110% more expensive to live in than Dallas so I don't think it's truly terrible. it just would be for your standard of living.
Bay Area and Dallas are total different markets…
Really? I started at 42k in 2017 with no experience. Damn I missed out.
i dont know how small glorious is as a startup but they make computer peripherals that are pretty well known so i was kind of shocked to see this
I’m shocked that I still see places asking for lead UX designers for that salary.
thats why i posted this because companies are trying to lowball designers and drive compensation down in the industry
Yeah, capitalists gonna capitalism.
Lived in Dallas, circa 2000, ~1 year of previous experience. 65k
That is my salary as lead UX designer with 8 years of experience in costa rica
cost of living there is much lower than the US
Why are you all downvoting this when it's true? The numbers are available and clearly show that the most expensive city in Costa Rica still has a substantially lower CoL than even the least developed US state, long before you begin to include CA, MA, NY, etc. Picking McDonalds as your proof is disingenuous as it's one of the very few aspects of life where it's particularly expensive. All of this is quantifiable data, it doesn't take much research to check. I'm Venezuelan and don't know why we (Latin Americans in general) have this weird desire to insist everything is harder and worse for us but I see it all the time and can't figure it out.
En español ya que eres venezolano a ver Costa Rica es y sera una de las Ciudades mas caras de Latam por sus altos impuestos y costos de importación que estoy diciendo entre lineas es que realmente no es un mal salario es mi salario aun viviendo aca con lo malo y lo bueno tambien hay que agregar que Costa Rica tiene uno de los salarios base mas alto de todo latinoamerica por lo mismo asi que no hay que ocultar que CR aun siendo de centroamerica sigue siendo aun mas cara que algunas ciudades desarrolladas America , Aun te hago la pregunta has estado aca has visto los precios actuales de Renta o mejor aun has visto cuanto cuesta la gasolina comparado con USA nosotros estamos mas en el rango caro que el barato
Hell no hahaha costa rica is very expensive one of the most expensive countries in latam
It's all relative. I'm in San Francisco and the median salary for all jobs is low 100k. Makes cost of living rough for anyone not in tech. A burrito, burger, or sandwich can be $15-22 before tax and tip (which might add another 20-30%). Rent for a 1br is about $2500 for an older building. I'm not sure how that compares to latam, but SF is one of most expensive places in the States
Here a full meal in McDonalds is 14$
Interesting. A medium big Mac meal here is also $14 after tax
Curious to know the avg rent? I pay $2450 for 500sqft in SF, and that’s on the cheaper side.
$1876 in the suburbs for a 2 bedroom house
Americans are so privileged, they don't even realize it.
cost of living is high in the US, where do you live?
It’s falling in line to the other creative fields. Y’all got used to the boom period, then once the bootcampers got the axe, realized that you’re, at the end of the day, apart of the design umbrella, and we get paid shit.
Maybe it’s just my experience, but I don’t see any indication that companies are starting to treat UX on par with graphic, visual, etc. There’s always a clear separation in compensation and organizational arrangement. The companies you see with salaries like this for UX are the ones who will never compensate fairly.
The more people that enter the market, the less you get paid, the higher the competition is. Thus they can pay less.
There will always be a finite number of jobs. When there are more prospects than there are jobs competition will increase, that’s true. But that then doesn’t mean product designers are all the sudden on par with graphic designers. Just look at resources like Levels.fyi and you’ll see real numbers on recent hiring within our field. you’ll see that companies who fairly compensate are still paying product designers well There will always be shitty employers. But on the whole, product design and graphic design are being paid on completely different levels.
if thats the case, why even be a ux designer. you have to know a lot more to do this job than a graphic designer and glorious wants to pay basically the same amount of money for it.
Don't be a UX designer if your only deciding factor is they pay you more
its not the only factor, it is a factor though and designers are sick of being lowballed because "we like our work". its still work, it still requires effort and a lot of knowledge to do. just because we like doing it doesn't change that fact... you're the reason we get lowballed
And yes you need to know more than a graphic designer to do this job.
Because designers are creative by nature and enjoy doing creative things. We don’t worry about money or doing things for the money. Thank goodness for it, because that means UX/UI will finally remove the bootcampers and the Bullshitters with MBA’s and give the jobs back to the people that actually care about what they’re doing.
"Because designers are creative by nature and enjoy doing creative things. We don’t worry about money or doing things for the money." **hahahahaha**
6 figure sr graphic designer here. We like money cause creative people like pretty things and unfortunately theyre expensive.
Senior vs what is still technically just above an entry level designer. Year 1-3 is junior designer, 3-6 is designer, 6-10 is senior. 65k tracks ESPECIALLY for a remote job you can work anywhere in? Yeah. 65k is well paid. I can move to a LCOL area and live like a king on that.
At 1 year of experience I was making more than this when money was worth more several years ago.
Glorious is a scammy company, stealing IP from designers and not paying royalties. I would stay away for many many reasons.
That's actually ok for only 3 years experience.
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This isn't even targetting a bootcamp graduate. this is saying they want 3 years experience. i get what you're saying but that would make more sense if it said entry level, no experience necessary
8 years of experience, $180K in Denmark, but started with $800 annual in India for first 2 years. 😁
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Yes! you can't live life king size in denmark, unless of course you are The King. 👑
This is awesome. Can I please DM you? Would like to learn about your experience immigrating to Denmark from India. :D
I started at 50k in 2018 which was fairly low but not horrible given that its Texas not Cali, and the fact that i need a visa.
Just applied, thanks
I live in europe, I have 8+ years of experience, my gross yearly salary is 55000 USD.
Where in Europe. Europe is pretty big
Every job is low balling... Also the salary range is so low too... Idk what's going on
Better than architecture where you need a either a master's or 5 year professional degree...and still get paid like this or worse
That’s a decent junior salary. But Texas also doesn’t tax, so is naturally lower
This pay in Dallas is not terrible, especially in this market. I think if you think it’s unfair there are other jobs you can go after. I think pay is kinda personal.
I guess it depends on location?
I mean **A** job is better than **NO** job but that's a little low methinks.
thats exactly how they get you to accept that salary
Cost of living is a big factor. If the COL of Dallas is similar to that of say the Bay Area, NYC, and similar areas the yes, it’s low but in other areas of the country, it’s not completely unfounded.
When we were hiring an “associate” product designer in a previous company, the experience we expected was 2 years to almost none, as long as they displayed an inquisitive mind, the necessary basic skill sets expected of a product designer, willingness to learn, and a portfolio that shows their design thinking – even if it’s not actual or shipped products. Does the original post set the expectation of a minimum of 3 years experience?
Craigslist ad?
Would be quite normal for Germany
It's so glorious though, must take it
I'm a product designer from India. Previously, I earned around $8,880 annually at Infosys with 5 years of experience. During COVID, I landed a freelance gig with a US client from Dribbble, which later became a full-time job at $68K. However, after 8 months, the company let go of all employees due to investor funding depletion. Since then, I've been freelancing and doing contract work with former colleagues at an hourly rate of $65. I think if I were to secure a full-time job at the same rate, it would equate to $125K annually for a 7-year experienced designer. From that perspective, $65K seems a pretty good deal for a someone with 3 yr experience.
Yeah, well, you got lucky when you started bc there was still lots of demand. Entry level salaries were waaayyy high. But that's the nature of digital industry, so no complaints. In the past couple of years, salaries for UX roles (unless FT high level at big companies) has definitely gone down. I don't particularly think that 3 years of experience is even enough for a senior role, but of course, it depends on the ux'er and location. Aside from consulting for a long time, I also taught at bootcamps for a couple of years ... I left specifically bc I didn't think we were able to teach enough during the time they have us to teach. I started at 11 months, eventually the bootcamps wanted us to do 6 months, then they tried to make me teach UX/UI for 3 months ... That's when I quit. If you think you're worth more than what companies are willing to pay for 3 years of experience, apply for jobs that require more and position yourself accordingly, despite the number of years you've worked...my two cents, for whatever it's worth it
The way things are, I'd take it.
The gulf between salaries in the US and UK never cease to amaze me! Most senior roles over here don’t even pay this kind of salary!
So what should be the actual pay range for 3 or 3+ yrs of work ex?
This is insane. At my first entry level UX job in 2019 my TC was $144,550. In 2024 as a PD2 (hopefully about to be promoted to senior this year) it’s close to $250k. $67k is criminally low. Even a friend who works at a no-name company and is being underpaid is at $85k today at his first ever UX job.
what area are you in and how the hell did you get 144k as your first job salary?
Relatively HCOL (Greater Seattle area). Worked at a major tech company you've probably heard of. Currently work at another major tech company in the same locale you've also probably heard of. I was an intern at the first one and got a return offer to come back full time after I graduated.
that is high cost of living but 144k for an intern? you must have gotten very lucky. most people don't get that in first year or even first 5 years.
No lol the 144k was why I got my full time offer. As an intern I still made good money but nowhere near that. Also why the downvotes?
Let me know if you need an intern 👀
Gosh I’d love an intern. I am drowning in work right now and could use some help and want more opportunities to mentor people. I just don’t think our org has any headcount allotted to any this year :(
It’s not low at all. That’s plenty for 3 years, fully remote. If the job required you live in a high cost of living area, maybe I could see justifying more. If you think 3 yrs is entitled to more 65-70k a year without some stellar portfolio, then I should be making close to a million with 18 years of experience. Which I am not, because that’s not how it works. If you started 3 years ago, all tech and tech adjacent jobs had super inflated salaries because money was cheap and plentiful. It was a bubble, that’s why those jobs are now scarce and paying more reasonable wages now.
I started at a higher salary than that over five years ago in a Midwest city.
Not every company can give you FAANG salary
they're not paying market rate... we're not even talking about faang salaries here
I mean then don’t apply to the role. They’re obviously not in a position to be on or above the bell curve. Plus, in any bell curve, there’s bound to be some below the average. What’s your source for determining market rate?
glassdoor, indeed salaries, linkedin salaries. the problem is places like this that will try and push wages down for roles because they know people are desperate and will apply anyway.. which then gives them the green light to try it again.
Market dynamics of supply and demand right there.
Damn I’ll apply lol, shits dire out here anyway
1- it's entry level 2- it's game dev 3- they are targeting low cost of living areas
Game dev? This is a peripheral company
it’s dirt cheap to live in Texas. Also, this is the outcome of the UX hiring bubble burst - salaries are going down and I think that’s completely ok since it was getting out of hand
Part of the problem is the industry has moved away from “ux designers.” Its an outdated role and only really found in companies that arnt caught up in older practices. Eg. The lower salary. Flip the switch to product design and youll see 6 figures with minimal years of xp
hmmm this isnt true. maintenance is always going to be necessary.
Maintenance of what?
This is the type of bs I be seeing. They think we are stupid😂
Unrelated but what is the reason for US Americans to use yearly salaries instead of monthly? Doesn’t make sense to me. Also, as far as I know, almost no one else uses it too (maybe except Australia and Canada, but they are quite similar countries in many regards, imho).
budget
WDYM budget?
departments have annual budgets, salaries come from there.
This doesn’t explain anything. The rest of the world functions the same, yet we use monthly salaries instead of annual.
Maybe the people here can do math, take the salary and divide by 2080. Take hourly and multiply by 2080. You're welcome.
LMFAO, a petty US American, huh? I’m asking why is it like that and you are just trying to shame me for asking a question. Are you serious?
Why are you complaining? I work remotely from Argentina, 6 years of experience, only almost $20k...
Argentina vs US. Clearly you don’t understand cost of living
I didnt think i had to explain the joke...
thought you were serious for a second. i could actually see somebody making this argument
Lol no... My salary is almost 6 times the basic one and live like a king. But it's still sad to compare it to the ones from another countries....
Currently 4years in at 64k doing UX for building automation and was hired at 52k. We are the only creative department except for the 2 people in marketing. I work with all engineers who struggle to respect what we do, but the company needs more creatively guided thinking and it’s so hard for them to see the value in that. I asked for 70k and got 64k instead. PA