Scrolling through LinkedIn or YouTube can surface an alarming amount of inexperienced UXers who call themselves 'UX Thought Leaders'. I'm referring to those who adopt the UX Thought Leader title as a self-ascribed glorification of their skills. Often, those who do have little experience or accreditation and yet they are offering services to review your portfolio, guide you through the interview process or spouting erroneous advice that is unchecked and unfounded. To be fair, there are some wonderfully talented and experienced people whom only want to help others' careers - and this is not about them and their content is well worth seeking out.
Before taking advice or subscribing to their brand of leadership, it is wise to do some preliminary research on the person to determine if they are the real deal or an influencer with little UX experience. It can be incredibly damaging to follow a UX Thought Leader who is confidently providing incorrect information or guidance, which happens a lot. In an industry where a lot is left undefined, being taken advantage of in this way is fairly common and unfair to those who do not know the difference. Be vigilant, keep your ear to the ground and sniff out the fake UX Thought Leaders.
A few simple questions to ask yourself that may help you weed out those who have adopted the UX Thought Leader title with little to back it up:
Do they have credentials? Not required, but valid credentials can be helpful to determine someone's background. Ensure they have valid on-the-job experience and are not a recent graduate from a bootcamp and giving advice as if they have a strong background and varied experience.
Do they have real-world experience? Check that they have conducted in-the-field conducting research, worked with stakeholders and actually solved design problems before taking design advice from them. There are so many valuable lessons learned while trying and failing on large-scale projects that cannot be learned in any educational setting.
Do they have more than 7 years of experience? It takes a long time to truly understand complexity in this field. Be wary of those with less than 7 years experience who are giving advice. it is very easy to job skip without proper experience and take on roles that you are not prepared to handle.
Do they have a portfolio? Ensure they have an active portfolio and not just a YouTube, TikTok or LinkedIn presence and look into their work history to get a feel for their experience. Understand if they are keen on UX processes beyond the basics.
Do they have a logical career-path? Bootcamp graduates with 2 years of experience should not be Seniors. Check their career path and ensure it makes logical sense and tells a story. Often, this is the best way to understand if someone is experienced or not.
To be clear, it is best to give people the benefit of the doubt and assume good intent. But you do need to be careful in order to protect this industry from people who are not who they claim to be. The questions above can help to guide you through that process and ensure you're learning from true UX Thought Leaders and not imitators.
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