Here’s the thing: I don’t get WHY so many companies lately (as in 2015 all of a sudden) are looking SPECIFICALLY for UX Designers that HAVE to know Javascript, HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap, Cordova, jQuery and have 5+ years as a developer and UX designer combined, AKA THE MAGICAL UX UNICORN.

If you’re a great or even decent UX’er, you’re out. If you know HTML5 and CSS3, it’s not good enough. The majority of UX folks I know, at least here in sunny San Diego, CA (it was very nice today but I digress), refuse to do ANYTHING but UX design. Most won’t even push pixels or do visual mockups.

YET, all of that is becoming more in demand.

On top of that, where a UX role in the past (mid-2014 and earlier), UX paid pretty decent wages. Now, not so much. Actually, for all of the required talents in my first paragraph, the going rate is somewhere around $80-90k.

Let’s do some math. A developer, who codes, who takes (hopefully) a well thought-out set of designs from a UX designer — wireframes, interaction designs, etc., and turns that into a living, breathing THING, makes anywhere from $90-120k a year. A UX’er used to make that, just doing UX.  Now the trend is you need to do all of that and more, for a whole lot less (probably due to the market being flooded).

Something else: I see a lot of developers try and take over the UX role, when there’s a fully qualified, seasoned UX designer on board. Note: I love developers, used to be one, and have worked with some truly amazing devs. But I never try and take over there job and start coding. But maybe it’s come to the point where we as UX people need to become that.

Seeing what’s out there, what’s being posted, what’s becoming the norm, if we want to stay in UX, we need to become the magical unicorn. I don’t think there’s really any choice.

Something not related to UX, but unicorns- I believe bacon comes from unicorns, as it makes almost everything it’s put in taste magical.

And maybe that’s why companies are looking now specifically for the UX unicorns – they’re the bacon to a business’ success.

And I like bacon.

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