How to Land a UX Design Job in the U.S. (A 3-Minute Masterclass)

In 2018, Tina Gada moved from Mumbai to the USA for her Master’s in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) at the State University of New York at Oswego.

Today, she’s a Senior UX Designer at Vanguard, working on products that shape digital experiences for millions. 

But she had to figure it all out from scratch.

She learned everything about UX, built her portfolio, cracked interviews, and landed her job on her own. During our conversation on my podcast, I asked her, how can someone reading this in 2025, build their career in UX. Here’s what she told me:

Oh, btw, before we start, I know some of you are thinking, Tina Gada, any relation to Jethalal Gada? Well, there’s an interesting story hiding there. 

The truth? No. But Jethalal (Dilip Joshi) bought everything for his first house from Tina’s dad’s shop in Mumbai. That’s the closest connection, isn’t that fascinating. 

Well, with that spirit, let’s see into the roadmap.

Step 1: Understand the role & market

So, What does a UX Designer do?

It’s NOT just about making things look nice. It’s about designing experiences that are smooth, intuitive, and user-friendly.

► Think of Apple’s website.

You scroll, and everything feels premium, smooth, and clean. That’s UX strategy in action, it makes you want to buy.

►  What roles exist in UX?

UX Designer → Focuses on usability & experience.

UI Designer → Works on visuals & aesthetics.

UX Researcher → Studies how users behave & what they need.

Product Designer → Mix of UX, UI & business strategy.

Interaction Designer → Works on animations & transitions.

► Which one should you pick?

If you love user behavior & psychology → UX.

If you love visuals & layouts → UI.

If you want to do both → UX/UI.

► Is there demand for UX in the USA?

— YES! Every company needs UX designers.

— even small startups now hire UX people because good design = more customers.

— tech companies, banks, eCommerce, and healthcare all need UX professionals.

The competition is increasing, but there are still more jobs than skilled people.

► And how much can you earn?

—Interns: $45–$50/hr

—Full-time (Entry-Level): $125K–$175K

—Senior UX: $175K–$250K+

► Can you get an H-1B visa as a UX Designer?

—yes, UX is a STEM field (so it qualifies for a visa). 

—some UX designers even apply for an O-1 Visa (Talent-Based Visa)

Step 2: learn the right UX skills 

Most people spend 6+ months watching random tutorials. 

Tina focused on what actually gets you hired.

► The 5 Must-Have UX Skills

○ Storytelling – You need to explain your design decisions clearly.

○ Figma & FigJam – The 1 UX/UI tool you must master.

○ User Research & Testing – Knowing how to validate designs.

○ Wireframing & Prototyping – Sketching rough ideas quickly.

○ Collaboration – Working with PMs & developers daily.

► Where can you learn without paying 1000s of dollars?

○ Daily UX Challenges – Google it; it’s a game changer.

○ ADPList – Get free mentorship from senior UX designers.

○ YouTube Channels: Shushu, DesignCourse.

○ Books: The Design of Everyday Things, Don’t Make Me Think.

Tina never paid for bootcamps, instead, she practiced real-world UX challenges and learned by building projects. Learning by doing >>>

► Next, build a UX Portfolio that gets you interviews

A resume alone won’t get you hired. Your portfolio will.

Here’s an example of a good structure

○ Project Title & Summary – What problem did you solve?

○ User Research – How did you gather insights?

○ Wireframes & User Flows – Show how you planned the design.

○ Final Designs – High-fidelity screens + explanations.

○ Impact Metrics – How did your design improve things?

►  Where should you host your portfolio?

○ Behance – For UI-heavy work.

○ Dribbble – If you focus on visuals.

○ Your own website (Wix, Squarespace, Framer) – Best option for serious UXers.

When Tina was learning, she never waited for a job to build a portfolio. Instead, she redesigned real-world products (Spotify, Netflix, Uber) and showed how she could make existing services better, which helped her stand out. 

Step 3: Apply for UX Jobs (Tina’s exact strategy)

She followed a structured approach that tripled her response rate and got her recruiters reaching out instead of ghosting.  

First, she found out some awesome design-specific job boards. 

Not all job boards are created equal.  

○ LinkedIn Jobs – Best for corporate UX roles at mid-to-large companies.  

○ BuiltIn – Great for mid-size companies looking for UX talent.  

○ AngelList – Startup UX roles where you’ll wear multiple hats.  

○ Venture Capital job portals (Like Y Combinator) – Hidden gem for UX roles at VC-backed startups.  

► How did Tina apply?

First, she cross-checked every company’s team on LinkedIn before applying.  

- If they had UX designers, great!  

- If not, she used that as a talking point:  

  Ex: “I noticed your team doesn’t have a UX designer. How do you currently handle design decisions?”

This helped her get replies even when there were no posted jobs.  

► Application strategy: Quality >>> Quantity  

Instead of spamming hundreds of jobs, she focused on smart applications. 

○ Cold Applying 

– She did 30+ highly targeted applications per week.  

○Targeted Resume 

– Tweaked each resume to match the company & job description.  

○ Networking First 

– Engaged with PMs & hiring managers before applying.  

By the time her resume hit the hiring team, they already knew who she was.  

► Cold DMs that worked for her: 

If you send DMs like: “Hi, can you refer me for this UX role?” you will be gnored 99% of the time

Tina flipped it and made it about learning, not asking.  

“I saw your team worked on [Feature]. How did you decide on the UX approach?”

- People love talking about their work (they’ll reply).  

- It builds a connection without immediately asking for a favor.  

- After 2-3 chats, asking for a referral feels natural.  

- If someone replied once, she kept the convo going by sharing a cool UX article or feature she saw and asked for their opinion.  

Step 4: how to prepare for UX Interviews 

Most UX interviews follow this pattern:  

○ Phone Screening – HR checks your background & fit.  

○ Portfolio Presentation – Deep dive into your UX work.  

○  Whiteboarding Challenge – Solve a real UX problem live.  

○  Behavioral Round – "Tell me about a time when…"  

○  Final Round – Meeting senior UX leadership.  

Instead of just answering interview questions, flip the conversation:  

- ask deep, product-focused questions (showing you think like a UX designer).  

- research the company’s UX flaws beforehand and casually mention how you’d improve them.  

Many people get stuck when they approach the whiteboarding challenge, here’s what Tina did:

○ Step 1: Don’t design yet, ask clarifying questions first.  

   - Who is this for?  

   - What’s the main user goal?  

   - Are there any constraints?  

○ Step 2: Define the real problem before solving it.  

   - Instead of jumping to solutions, she restated the problem clearly to show she understood it.  

○ Step 3: Sketch 3 different low-fidelity solutions first.  

   - Instead of going all-in on one idea, she showed multiple approaches.  

Interviewers were more impressed by her thought process than her final design.  

And, here are some other habits that Tina had that helped her stand out:

- Practiced UX case studies, whiteboarding, and problem-solving daily.   

- Every time she completed a new UX project, she posted about it.  

- This got her noticed by recruiters.  

Getting into UX wasn’t a straight road for her. 

She faced 65+ rejections, some companies never replied, 

and some interviews felt like a dead end.

But she never stopped refining her strategy.

She iterated on her resume, tweaked her portfolio, 

improved her storytelling, and kept applying.

Most people give up too soon.

Tina kept going.

If she cracked UX despite all the challenges, why can’t you?

You now have the exact roadmap

The only thing left is to take action.

Will you be the one who gives up after 10 rejections?

Or will you keep going until you break through?

-Yudi J