So let’s approach these questions here! First of all, who are you and why should I listen to you? I tried to tackle some of them in a Twitter thread a couple of weeks ago, but admittedly, that’s a terrible way to get a big idea out. What if I don’t have any relevant clips or all my work is under an NDA?.Specifically, I get asked some variation of these questions: This is one of the most commonly asked-about topics I’ve seen in my office hours and in the many coffees I’ve had over the years with newcomers to the field. One of these big unknowns is, of course, the UX writing portfolio.
To an outsider, it’s hard to parse at best, and at worst seems like it’s intentionally built to shift goalposts and to keep outsiders out. UX is an alluring, inscrutable beast that comes with its own set of jargon, terminology, and process. I hear over and over again from writers in other industries-journalists, marketing copywriters, technical writers, etc.-that they’re pretty interested in UX writing but just don’t know how to break into the field. One of the ways I’ve been trying to make a positive difference during this lost COVID-19 season is to hold office hours for unemployed or emerging UX writers.
