2012 user experience in canada - work & salary survey

2012 User Experience in Canada Work and Salary Survey

Periscope

Periscope User Experience

www.periscopeux.com

Vancouver User Experience

www.vanue.com

2012 User Experience in Canada - Work and Salary Survey 2

About this Survey Welcome to the 2012 Work and Salary Survey for User Experience (UX) Professionals in Canada. This survey captures information on demographics, work experience and positions, and compensation of UX professionals across Canada.

The goal for this survey was to gather up-to-date information about the state of user experience jobs in Canada to help all professionals understand the UX market and opportunities in Canada. It was largely influenced by a similar annual survey from the Information Architecture Institute (IAI), which is fairly US-centric and has low Canadian representation.

The survey was conducted in November of 2012 and members of several UX groups and IxDA (Interaction Design Association) chapters across Canada were invited to participate. We collected and analyzed 159 responses and have compiled a summary of the data and findings in this document. To ensure the anonymity of survey participants, detailed survey results will not be released and in a few instances where there could be a chance of identifying an individual, we have generalized or omitted data.

The first of its kind, we hope this survey can happen bi-annually. To improve the information gathered next time, we’ve compiled a list of amendments and additions for future surveys. The list can be found at the end of this report. If there is any other feedback or requests from the community, please send it to [email protected].


About Periscope User Experience We are a User Experience Design agency based in Vancouver, BC providing a full range of user-centered design services to clients in web, mobile and software.

Growing our business we always wondered about the broader landscape of professional design in Canada, and how we fit. There is plenty of data from south of the border, but very little here. So we decided to simply ask the UX community and begin painting a picture of this landscape.

We’d like to thank all those who participated in the survey, as well as Vancouver User Experience (VanUE) and the following groups for their guidance and help delivering the survey and results:

CalUX

UX Edmonton

UXirregulars

Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver IxDA chapters

@UXcampOttawa


Survey Results

Who Responded? The survey was distributed via mailing lists, LinkedIn, Facebook groups, and Twitter accounts to UX and IxDA groups in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. While it’s impossible to determine its actual reach, based on member counts for these groups we made a ballpark estimation that around 800 people received the request for survey participation.

A total of 159 people, 50.9% male and 49.1% female, completed the Work and Salary Survey, with almost half residing in Vancouver and Greater Area, significant portions in Calgary and around Toronto and the remaining scattered across other Canadian cities as well as a few currently living in the US and Europe.

Assuming that respondent locations are not representative of the actual distribution of UX jobs across Canada, and that the survey is skewed towards the Vancouver demographic, we’re hoping for a more even distribution next time.

Respondent Locations


The UX profession is fairly young; with respondents predominantly 26-35 years old, and 36-45 year olds being the second largest age range represented.

The most common highest level of education is a Bachelor’s degree at 45.9%, followed by 32.1% of respondents with a Master’s degree. This is the reverse of IAI’s 2011 survey results (a majority 54.8% with Master’s degrees and 36% with Bachelor’s). We speculated whether it’s related to fewer or smaller UX-related Master’s programs in Canada or if less importance or value is placed on Master’s degrees within the design job market here. 86.8% of respondents have at least a Bachelor’s degree but Doctorate degrees are not common.

5.0%

19.5%

25.8%

17.0%

17.0%

10.1%

3.1%

1.9%

0.6%

21 - 25

26 - 30

31 - 35

36 - 40

41 - 45

46 - 50

51 - 55

56 - 60

Over 65

Age Ranges

45.9%

32.1%

6.9%

5.7%

3.8%

2.5%

2.5%

0.6%

0.0%

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Certificate program

Some graduate school

Junior college

High school degree

Doctorate degree

Post-doctoral program

No degree

Highest Level of Education


We asked participants to list academic degrees, certificates, or training that have contributed to their education in a user-experience related discipline. For anonymity’s sake, we’ve refrained from listing specific program names. Instead, we organized the responses into groups based on a program’s general field and have listed the resulting fields below in order of most common to least common. From this, it’s possible to see the great diversity of backgrounds within the community.

Educational Backgrounds

Graphic & Communication Design

Information Design

Computer Science

UX Courses & Workshops

Human Factors

Multi-/ Digital / New Media

Engineering

IT / Development

Interactive Design

Fine Arts

HCI

Business / Management

Information & Library Sciences

Industrial Design

Psychology

Writing / Publishing

Arts

Architecture

Marketing

Sciences

Web Design

Education

Interaction Design

Anthropology


Experience as UX Professionals

Job Titles

We asked respondents to select a closest match to their official job title. The most commonly selected were User Experience Designer (45.3%), Interaction Designer (11.9%) and Information Architect (10.1%). Of these responses, less than a third of respondents used some variation.

Variations on job titles included:

• Use of different terms, e.g. Specialist, Architect, Analyst, Strategist, Consultant, etc.

• Seniority level specified in title, e.g. Manager, Director, Senior, etc. • Dual job titles, e.g. BA/UX, Director of Interaction Design and Usability,

UI/UX Designer • Titles for academic or instructional positions

Less common job title matches were Consultant (5.7%), UI/Interface Designer (3.8%), Web Designer (3.8%), User Researcher (3.1%), and Project Manager (3.1%). All other job titles were each used by fewer than 5 respondents (< 3%): Content Strategist, Creative Director, Product Manager, Usability Engineer / Analyst, Business Analyst, Web Developer, and Programmer/Developer. No one selected Interactive Designer.

Position & Experience Levels

The majority of respondents indicated their positions as Mid- and Senior-Level (75.4% total; 35.8% and 39.6% respectively). Smaller portions work as Senior Managers/VPs/Directors (11.9%) and in Junior or Entry-Level positions (9.4%). Five respondents (3.1%) described their position level as Executive/CEO/President/Owner; all five are self-employed freelancers.

Respondents have worked in User Experience Design-related disciplines for various lengths of time; this chart shows how the numbers break down by experience level:

Years Experience Respondents Percent of Responses

Under 1 year 2 1.3%

1 - 2 years 21 13.2%

3 - 5 years 40 25.2%

6 - 8 years 35 22.0%

9 - 10 years 12 7.5%

Over 10 years 49 30.8%


The large number of respondents who have more than 10 years of experience but who report their position as Senior Level rather than Senior Management/VP/Director is possibly indicative of a lack of leadership roles available for experienced practitioners to move into.

The substantial portion of respondents with 6-10 years experience working in Mid-level positions brings up similar thoughts: Is there a lack of senior level positions to move into? Perhaps because the more experienced are unable to move up and out of them? Or is the experience necessary to move into more senior positions not well defined or consistent from company to company?

9.4%

35.8% 39.6%

11.9%

3.1%

Experience Levels

Over 10 years

6 - 10 years

3 - 5 years

0 - 2 years


Current Positions

Companies

User Experience work spans a variety of company and product types.

Most respondents indicated they work for a company developing software/applications (25.2%), interactive/design agency or consulting firm (17.6% each), consumer product-company (12.6%) or a service company (10.1%). Smaller portions of respondents (11.4% total) work for government, educational, and non-profit organizations. Very large companies (1000+ employees) were most common (33.1%).

People Performing UX Activities

Number of People

1 (me) 2 - 4 5 - 8 9 - 12 13 - 20 > 20 Not sure

Response Count

In Company 15.7% 27.7% 11.3% 8.2% 10.7% 21.4% 5.0%

159

In Workgroup 24.8% 33.3% 20.2% 8.5% 6.2% 3.9% 3.1%

129

11.3%

2.6%

6.6%

7.9%

5.3%

13.9%

8.6%

10.6%

33.1%

Self-employed

2 - 5 people

6 - 10 people

11 - 25 people

26 - 50

51 - 200

201 - 500

501 - 1000

Over 1000 employees

Number of People in Company


Freelancing

In the same question where we asked about the type of company a respondent works for, we included the option “Freelance,” which 6.3% of respondents selected.

Unfortunately, this is likely not representational of the actual number of freelancers as other self-employed respondents selected a company type other than “Freelance.” Based on asking respondents how many people their company employs, 11.3% indicated they were self-employed. Even more (37.1% of all respondents) provided a response for the question “If you work freelance, how are you typically paid?” though this may be that people provided information on freelance work they have done in the past, or do occasionally on the side. For the next survey, we will consider asking more explicitly whether or not a respondent is a freelancer, and how we might distinguish between those working with several clients and those on full-time, long-term contracts with a single company.

If we look at the demographics for both groups (those who declared their company type as freelance and those who are self-employed), we see that more females work independently than males (70% female versus 30% male for freelancers; 64.7% versus 35.3% for the self-employed). It’s also a slightly more common career path for those between age 36 and 50 and with more than 8 years of experience.


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Freelance

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Freelance

Self-employed


Product Types

Websites, mobile applications and web applications were the most common types of products respondents work on (76.1% of all respondents work on websites, among other products). Other products that we did not list but some respondents included are: museum displays, building automation systems, services, digital books, and knowledge bases.

On average, respondents work with 3.5 product types with most respondents working with 3 different product types.

Clients

Respondents work with either internal clients (30.2%), or external clients (37.1%) or both (32.7%).

The survey included a question on where external clients are located, but unfortunately due to a survey design error (the question was required despite being conditional), we cannot be confident in the data returned and have omitted it from this report.

76.1%

74.8%

61.6%

40.3%

36.5%

22.6%

11.3%

8.8%

6.3%

Websites

Mobile applications

Web applications/SaaS

Desktop software

Intranets

Social media applications

Physical products or devices

Public Kiosks

Entertainment systems

Product Types


Time at Work

Most respondents have been with their current job for 5 years or less (88%), 1 – 3 years being the most common (41.5%). While this distribution may be similar in other fields and industries, we would be interested to know some of the most common reasons why UX practitioners are changing jobs after 2 or 3 years.

Only a small percentage of respondents are working part-time (7.3% total including 5.3% working 20 – 30 hours and 2% working less than 20 hours). Most work somewhere between 30 and 50 hours per week (88.7%).

5.0%

4.4%

18.9%

41.5%

18.2%

7.5%

4.4%

Under 3 months

3 - 6 months

6 - 12 months

1 - 3 years

3 - 5 years

6 - 10 years

Over 10 years

Time at Present Job

2.0%

5.3%

41.7%

47.0%

2.6%

1.3%

Under 20 hours

20 – 30 hours

30 – 40 hours

40 – 50 hours

50 – 60 hours

Over 60 hours

Hours Worked per Week


Tasks

We asked respondents to rate a list of tasks according to how much they perform each: frequently, occasionally, review and/or delegate, or not involved at all. On average, respondents have 5-6 tasks that they perform frequently and 7-8 that they perform occasionally. Senior and mid-level respondents perform slightly more tasks on average than a junior.

The most frequently performed tasks are:

• Wireframing / sitemaps (71.1% perform frequently) • Interaction design (66%) • User flow / scenario development (48.4%) • Prototyping (41.1%) • Strategic work (39%)

The most common “occasionally” performed tasks are:

• User research (47.8% perform occasionally) • Persona development / audience definitions (46.5%) • Heuristic analysis / Review (44%) • Usability testing (42.1%) • User flow / scenario development (40.3%) • Evangelizing / public speaking (39%)

Senior management review and delegate more than other experience levels (8.2 tasks on average) and senior levels come in second with 5.8 tasks. The most commonly reviewed and/or delegated tasks are:

• Graphic / visual design (42.8%) • Content generation / copywriting (36.5%) • Design templates / style guides (33.3%) • Accessibility review (27%) • Usability testing (25.2%) • Content inventory (25.2%)


Work Location

Knowing that working every day in the same location often isn’t the norm, we asked respondents for a rough breakdown of where they work and how their time is divided among different locations.

Only 31% of respondents spend all their time in an employer’s or client’s office, their own office, or at home. It’s more common for respondents to divide their time between two or more locations.

Highlights of each location type:

• Company/employer’s office: 71.7% of respondents work in them most of the time (51-100%).

• Working at home: 45.3% occasionally work at home (1-25% of time); 15.7% of respondents work at home more than half their time.

• Few work in their “own office”: 7.5% do 1-75% of the time, 1.3% 76-100% of the time.

• Shared office / co-working spaces: 8.2% work in them some portion of time (1-50%), 1.9% work in them 76-100% of the time. All respondents working in shared offices divide their time with 1 or more other locations.

• Client’s office/premises: Over a quarter of respondents (34.6%) work at a client’s office/premises some of the time.


Salaries The average reported salary was CDN$89,095 and median, $82,500; the minimum was $40,000 and the maximum, $240,000.

If we exclude the 2 highest salaries as outliers, the average reported salary becomes CDN$87,289, the median, $82,000 and the maximum, $180,000. While the outliers are substantially beyond the general salary trend, it’s possible that they could become part of the trend with a larger survey sample size. For this reason, we’ll continue to include them in the report data unless specially noted.

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The most common salary range was $70,000-$79,999, representing 15.4% of responses, $80,000-$89,999 was second most common, with 14.7% of responses. The top five ranges clustered between $60,000 and $109,999 and accounted for 64.1% of responses.

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Salary Ranges


Salary by Age

Looking at average salary by age group shows an increasing trend with the 46-50 year olds earning the most on average ($111,750). There is a drop in the 50+ age groups but given the lower number of respondents in these groups, the drop may not be significant.

* Excluding outliers, average salary for age groups 41-45 and 46-50 becomes $97,463 and $96,750 respectively.

Salary by Gender

Average salaries for females and males show a substantial gap between genders: $81,731 for females compared with $96,276 for males. Removing outlier salaries does not decrease the gap (averages become $78,654 and $93,526).

The gap could be partly due to the distribution of females / males among age ranges. Women are better represented among 21-35 year olds, age ranges with the lowest average salaries, while men are better represented in the 36-50 range.

Age Respondents Percent of Responses

Average Salary

Median Salary

21 - 25 8 5.0% $52,500 $47,500

26 - 30 31 19.5% $75,090 $75,000

31 - 35 41 25.8% $81,049 $80,000

36 - 40 27 17.0% $93,214 $100,000

41 - 45 27 17.0% $105,611* $100,000

46 - 50 16 10.1% $111,750* $100,000

51 - 55 5 3.1% $89,000 $75,000

56 - 60 3 1.9% $108,333 $90,000

Over 65 1 0.6% $80,000 $80,000


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Salary by Gender

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21 - 25 26 - 30 31 - 35 36 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 55 56 - 60 Over 65

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Gender by Age Range

Men Women


Salary by Level of Education

There are no huge variations in average salary between educational levels, perhaps indicative of a profession where experience may be more relevant than a degree. However, given the low respondent counts for levels other than Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, it’s difficult to say.

* Excluding outliers, average salary for Master’s degree and Doctorate degree groups becomes $86,020 and $80,000 respectively.

Surprisingly, respondents with a Bachelor’s degree earn 1% more than those with a Master’s (4% if we consider the average for Master’s degree without an outlier).

This could be because those who pursue a Master’s have a later start in their career (and thus, fewer years experience) than those who start right after a Bachelor’s. Or it could be that Bachelor degrees dominate in the highest paying age ranges (36-40 and 41-45). Without a larger sample size, it is difficult to make a firm conclusion.

Educational Level Respondents Percent of Responses

Average Salary

Median Salary

High school degree 4 2.5% $80,875 $58,250

Junior college 6 3.8% $85,500 $81,500

Certificate program 11 7.0% $87,545 $75,000

Bachelor's degree 72 45.6% $89,494 $85,140

Some graduate school 9 5.7% $83,667 $70,000

Master's degree 51 32.3% $88,647* $85,000

Doctorate degree 4 2.5% $120,000* $87,500

Post-doctoral program 1 0.6% $80,000 $80,000


*Includes high outlier.

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Educational Level by Age Range

Bachelor's degree Master's degree

Age Range / Education Level Bachelor’s degree Master’s degree

26-30 $81,946 $72,208

31-35 $87,912 $86,133

36-40 $96,020 $94,438

41-45 $101,750 $112,857*

46-50 $103,571 $106,167

Years of Experience / Educational Level

Bachelor’s degree Master’s degree

1 - 2 years $56,778 $59,800

3 - 5 years $77,683 $80,231

6 - 8 years $101,852 $83,467

9 - 10 years $96,750 $100,000

Over 10 years $100,750 $113,038


Salary by Experience

Salary increases with both position level and years of experience in the field, though may level off after 10 years. It’s difficult to say without more granular division of respondents who have 10+ years of experience.

* Excluding outliers, average salary for over 10 years of experience becomes $96,429.

* Excluding outliers, average salary for Senior Management / VP / Director and Executive / CEO / President / Owner becomes $112,263 and $56,000 respectively.

Years of Experience

Respondents Percent of Responses

Average Salary

Median Salary

Under 1 year 2 1.3% $51,250 $51,250

1 - 2 years 21 13.3% $58,262 $55,000

3 - 5 years 40 25.3% $78,233 $74,000

6 - 8 years 34 21.5% $93,376 $85,140

9 - 10 years 12 7.6% $105,167 $100,000

Over 10 years 49 31.0% $105,816* $100,000

Position Level Respondents Percent of Responses

Average Salary

Median Salary

Entry Level / Junior 15 9.5% $53,753 $50,000

Experienced / Mid Level 56 35.4% $74,585 $75,000

Experienced / Senior Level

63 39.9% $98,746 $100,000

Senior Management / VP / Director

19 12.0% $124,895* $120,000

Executive / CEO / President / Owner

5 3.2% $100,000* $80,000


Freelancing

We asked respondents to provide us with their average hourly rate and tell us how they are typically paid, if they work freelance. Hourly rates were received from 34.6% of respondents and 36.5% told us how they are typically paid.

This response rate is much higher than the percentage of respondents who indicated they were self-employed or work freelance. This may be due to respondents who are full-time employees but freelance on the side, who have billed hourly in the past, etc. For simplicity’s sake, in this section we refer to all respondents who provided an hourly rate as “freelancers”.

84.5% of freelancers are typically paid with an hourly rate and approximately one-third of these respondents use an hourly rate in combination with a project/flat rate and/or a daily rate. Or in other terms:

• 58.6% of freelance respondents are paid only by hourly rate • 5.2% by project/flat rate • 6.9% by daily rate • 29.3% by some combination of the above

Only one respondent receives a share of equity (in combination with daily and flat rates) and no freelancers work on commission.

Excluding two outliers, one high and one low, the average freelance hourly rate was CDN$86.97, with a minimum of $30 and a maximum of $180.

Comparing amounts for the 25 women and 28 men who provided hourly rates, the average rates were $83.68 and $89.91 respectively. The tables below provide more comparisons of hourly rates in relation to age, education, experience and position level.


Hourly Rates by Age

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Age Respondents Percent of Responses

Average Hourly Rate

Median Hourly Rate

21 - 25 3 5.7% $63.33 $65.00

26 - 30 8 15.1% $58.13 $50.00

31 - 35 11 20.8% $79.59 $80.00

36 - 40 8 15.1% $86.25 $82.50

41 - 45 8 15.1% $87.75 $85.00

46 - 50 10 18.9% $116.20 $112.50

51 - 55 3 5.7% $95.00 $100.00

56 - 60 1 1.9% $150.00 $150.00

Over 65 1 1.9% $90.00 $90.00


Hourly Rates by Level of Education

Hourly Rates by Experience

Educational Level Respondents Percent of Responses

Average Hourly Rate

Median Hourly Rate

High school degree 1 1.9% $110.00 $110.00

Junior college 3 5.7% $60.00 $65.00

Certificate program 5 9.4% $83.00 $80.00

Bachelor's degree 27 50.9% $83.69 $80.00

Some graduate school 2 3.8% $47.50 $47.50

Master's degree 13 24.5% $98.46 $100.00

Doctorate degree 1 1.9% $180.00 $180.00

Post-doctoral program 1 1.9% $90.00 $90.00

Years of Experience

Respondents Percent of Responses

Average Hourly Rate

Median Hourly Rate

Under 1 year 1 1.9% $30.00 $

1 - 2 years 7 13.2% $52.86 $

3 - 5 years 8 15.1% $56.63 $

6 - 8 years 5 9.4% $91.00 $

9 - 10 years 10 18.9% $96.00 $

Over 10 years 22 41.5% $106.43 $


Hourly Rates by Position Level

Opportunities We asked respondents to select their top three most frustrating aspects of working in a User Experience-related discipline from a list. The most common frustrations are:

• Explaining the value of UX (Chosen by 61% of respondents) • Explaining what UX means (34%) • Finding the right education / training (20.8%)

Fewer respondents chose the remaining frustrations: “Finding Work” - 13.8%, “Low Salary” - 15.1%, and “Few Career Options” - 16.4%.

18.2% of respondents indicated that they don’t find anything frustrating.

Respondents could also provide a frustration not in the list. Forty-one “Other” responses were reviewed and grouped into the following list:

• Balancing UX with business goals and technology • Strategy frustrations: lack of strategy, not involving UX (early-on) • Working with other roles and their different motivations & beliefs • Doing the work: scoping, having your skillset well-utilized, knowing what

“good work” is • Other UX professionals • Finding UX talent • Working alone

Position Level Respondents Percent of Responses

Average Hourly Rate

Median Hourly Rate

Entry Level / Junior 4 7.5% $51.25 $

Experienced / Mid Level 13 24.5% $59.23 $

Experienced / Senior Level 22 41.5% $94.52 $

Senior Management / VP / Director 9 17.0% $113.33 $

Executive / CEO / President / Owner 5 9.4% $107.00 $


Where we connect We included a few questions to find out more about how people find work and stay connected within the professional community.

LinkedIn is by far the most widely used to find UX jobs and contracts (45.9% of respondents use often and 34.6% use infrequently). Other methods used by a fair portion of respondents are:

• IxDA (10.7% used often and 37.7% infrequently) • Placement Agencies (9.4% and 28.3%) • Internal Recruiters (7.5% and 31.4%)

Craigslist, Coroflot, Glassdoor and Behance are all used by less than 20% of respondents.

Other methods respondents use are: their personal network, word-of-mouth, RFPs, conferences & events, Twitter, Google, looking at company websites, and the UX community. They also use websites like: Authentic Jobs, T-Net British Columbia, eluta, Krop, 37Signals, Stackoverflow Careers, Monster, BC Bid, and Workopolis.

When asked what has been the most effective way to find work, the most common response was through friends/word-of-mouth (45.9%). Other methods rated as follows:

• In-person networking / events – 27.7% • Responding to online ads – 12.6% • Social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) – 9.4% • Maintaining a portfolio online – 3.8% • Attending job fairs – 0.6%

Finally, we asked respondents to tell us which professional organizations they belong to. Of the 93 who responded to this question, 89.2% belong to IxDA, 22.6% to UPA, 21.5% to IAI, and 15.1% to ACM/SIGCHI. Other organizations, including GDC, AIGA, STC and HF, accounted for less than 5% of respondents’ participation.


Survey Details

What is your off ic ial job t i t le?

Answer Options Response Percent Response Count

Interaction Designer 11.9% 19 User Experience Designer 45.3% 72 User Researcher 3.1% 5 Usability Engineer / Analyst 1.9% 3 Information Architect 10.1% 16 Consultant 5.7% 9 Human Factors Engineer 0.6% 1 Business Analyst 1.9% 3 Content Strategist 2.5% 4 Interactive Designer 0.0% 0 UI / Interface Designer 3.8% 6 Programmer / Developer 0.0% 0 Project Manager 3.1% 5 Product Manager 2.5% 4 Creative Director 2.5% 4 Web Designer 3.8% 6 Web Developer 1.3% 2 I couldn't find a job title close to mine. The title I use is: 46

answered question 159 skipped question 0

Which of the fol lowing best describes your posit ion level?

Answer Options Response

Percent Response

Count

Senior Management / VP / Director 11.9% 19 Experienced / Senior Level 39.6% 63 Experienced / Mid Level 35.8% 57 Entry Level / Junior 9.4% 15 Intern 0.0% 0 Administrative Staff 0.0% 0 Executive / CEO / President / Owner 3.1% 5



What is your highest attained educational level?


Percent Response

Count

No degree 0.0% 0 High school degree 2.5% 4 Junior college 3.8% 6 Bachelor's degree 45.9% 73 Certificate program 6.9% 11 Some graduate school 5.7% 9 Master's degree 32.1% 51 Doctorate degree 2.5% 4 Post-doctoral program 0.6% 1


Please l ist any and al l academic degrees, cert i f icates or addit ional training that have contr ibuted to your education in a user experience-related discipl ine. (Specify program name and major or topic.)*

Answer Options Response Percent Response

Count

Program 1: 100.0% 119 Program 2: 58.8% 70 Program 3: 21.8% 26 Program 4: 5.0% 6 Program 5: 2.5% 3


* Detailed responses not provided to ensure participant anonymity.

How long have you worked in a user experience design-related discipl ine?

Answer Options Response Percent

Response Count

Under 1 year 1.3% 2 1 - 2 years 13.2% 21 3 - 5 years 25.2% 40 6 - 8 years 22.0% 35 9 - 10 years 7.5% 12 Over 10 years 30.8% 49



Which of the fol lowing professional organizations do you belong to?


Count

IxDA 89.2% 83 UPA 22.6% 21 IAI 21.5% 20 GDC 4.3% 4 AIGA 4.3% 4 Other organizations (list any you think may apply): 28


How many people does your company employ?


Percent Response

Count

Self-employed 11.3% 17 2 - 5 people 2.6% 4 6 - 10 people 6.6% 10 11 - 25 7.9% 12 26 - 50 5.3% 8 51 - 200 13.9% 21 201 - 500 8.6% 13 501 - 1000 10.6% 16 Over 1000 employees

33.1% 50


How long have you worked at your present job?


Percent Response Count

Under 3 months 5.0% 8 3 - 6 months 4.4% 7 6 - 12 months 18.9% 30 1 - 3 years 41.5% 66 3 - 5 years 18.2% 29 6 - 10 years 7.5% 12 Over 10 years 4.4% 7



What type of company do you work for?


Percent Response

Count

Consumer product company

12.6% 20

Service company 10.1% 16

Interactive / design agency

17.6% 28

Software / application developer

25.2% 40

Consulting firm

17.0% 27

Government 5.7% 9 Educational Institution

4.4% 7

Nonprofit 1.3% 2 Recruiter 0.0% 0 Freelance 6.3% 10 Other (please specify) 13


How many people does your company employ?


Percent Response

Count

Self-employed 11.3% 17 2 - 5 people 2.6% 4 6 - 10 people 6.6% 10 11 - 25 7.9% 12 26 - 50 5.3% 8 51 - 200 13.9% 21 201 - 500 8.6% 13 501 - 1000 10.6% 16 Over 1000 employees 33.1% 50



How many people in your company and/or work group perform user experience activit ies? Number of People

Answer Options 1 (me)

2 - 4

5 - 8

9 - 12

13 - 20

> 20

Not sure

Response Count

Company: 25 44 18 13 17 34 8 159 Work group: 32 43 26 11 8 5 4 129


Who are your projects for?


Percent Response

Count

Internal clients 30.2% 48 External clients 37.1% 59 Both 32.7% 52


I f you do work for external cl ients, where are they located? (Select a percentage range for each location where your cl ients are based.)*

* We accidentally made this a required question when it should have been conditional, thus the results cannot be considered with any confidence and have been omitted.

What types of products do you work on? (Select al l that apply.)


Percent Response

Count

Websites Mobile applications Desktop software Web applications/SaaS Intranets Social media applications Entertainment systems (Xbox, Wii, Home Theatres, etc.) Public Kiosks Physical products or devices Other (please specify)

76.1% 121 74.8% 119 40.3% 64 61.6% 98 36.5% 58 22.6% 36 6.3% 10 8.8% 14

11.3% 18 8.2% 13



In your current role, how much do you perform the fol lowing tasks?

Answer Options

I am not involved with this

tasks

I review and/or

delegate this task

to others

I occasionally perform this

task

I frequently perform this task

Response Count

User research 8 31 76 44 159 Persona Development / Audience definitions

23 33 74 29 159

User flow / Scenario development 5 13 64 77 159

Usability testing 10 40 67 41 158 Interaction design 5 20 27 105 157 Wireframing / Sitemaps 7 14 23 113 157 Prototyping 10 22 59 67 158 Heuristic analysis / Review

23 19 70 46 158

Graphic / Visual design 23 68 28 38 157 Strategic work 21 15 60 62 158 Accessibility review 61 43 43 11 158 Design templates / Style guides

21 53 52 30 156

Content generation / Copywriting 56 58 34 9 157

Content management / Strategy

54 29 51 22 156

Content inventory 61 40 43 13 157 Taxonomy development 52 38 52 15 157 Social media integration 70 37 39 8 154 Database design 110 29 11 6 156 Web or software development

87 32 25 12 156

IT integration 119 24 8 5 156 General IT consulting 123 14 11 8 156 Web analytics 70 38 38 12 158 Project management 56 27 49 23 155 Evangelizing / Public speaking / Blogging / Whitepapers

64 13 62 18 157

General business consulting

83 17 35 22 157

Marketing / Proposal writing

89 15 37 16 157

Business administration / Operations 100 14 24 17 155

Staff training / Recruiting / Team development

56 11 60 29 156

Please list any other tasks that you perform that are not on the above list: 14 answered question 159

skipped question 0


Where do you physical ly work?

Answer Options Never 1 - 25% 26 - 50% 51 - 75% 76 - 100% Response Count

At home 12 72 8 15 10 117 Own office 66 4 4 4 2 80 Company / employer offices 7 14 3 26 88 138

Client office / premises

37 38 8 5 4 92

Shared office / co-working space

60 7 3 0 3 73


What are the THREE most frustrating aspects of working in the user experience-related discipl ine?


Count

I don't find anything frustrating 20.8% 33 Finding work 13.8% 22 Explaining what UX means 34.0% 54 Explaining the value of UX 61.0% 97 Low salary 15.1% 24 Finding the right education / training 20.8% 33 Few career options 16.4% 26 Other (please specify) 25.8% 41


Where do you look for user experience-related jobs or freelance contracts?

Answer Options Use

often Use

infrequently Never

use Rating

Average Response

Count

Linkedin 73 55 30 1.73 158 IXDA 17 60 74 2.38 151 Placement Agency

15 45 87 2.49 147

Internal Recruiters 12 50 79 2.48 141

Craigslist 9 19 115 2.74 143 Coroflot 5 15 122 2.82 142 Glassdoor 4 21 115 2.79 140 Behance 1 19 122 2.85 142 Other (please specify) 37



In your experience, what has been the most effective way of f inding user experience-related work?


Responding to online ads 12.6% 20 Social media (Twitter, Linkedin, etc.) 9.4% 15 Maintaining a portfolio online 3.8% 6 Friends/word-of-mouth 45.9% 73 In-person networking/events 27.7% 44 Attending job fairs 0.6% 1 Other (please specify) 14


What do you estimate you wil l earn in 2012, pre-tax and including salary, commission and/or bonuses? Specify in Canadian Dollars.)

Answer Options Response Count

158 answered question 158

skipped question 0

I f you work freelance, how are you typically paid? (Select more than one choice i f i t varies.)


Percent Response

Count

Hourly rate 81.7% 49 Daily rate 15.0% 9 Per project rate/ Flat rate 33.3% 20 Commission 0.0% 0 Share of equity 1.7% 1 Other (please specify) 3.3% 2


I f you work freelance, what is the average hourly rate ( in Canadian Dollars) you charged in 2012?

Answer Options Response Count

55 answered question 55

skipped question 104


On average, how many hours do you work per week?


Under 20 hours 2.0% 3 20 – 30 hours 5.3% 8 30 – 40 hours 41.7% 63 40 – 50 hours 47.0% 71 50 – 60 hours 2.6% 4 Over 60 hours 1.3% 2


How old are you?


Under 21 0.0% 0 21 - 25 5.0% 8 26 - 30 19.5% 31 31 - 35 25.8% 41 36 - 40 17.0% 27 41 - 45 17.0% 27 46 - 50 10.1% 16 51 - 55 3.1% 5 56 - 60 1.9% 3 61 - 65 0.0% 0 Over 65 0.6% 1


What is your gender?


Male 50.9% 81 Female 49.1% 78



Where do you l ive?*


Percent Response

Count

City/Town: 100.0% 159 State/Province: 100.0% 159 Country (if not Canada): 17.0% 27


* Detailed responses not provided to ensure participant anonymity.


Amendments for Next Year As this is our first time conducting this survey there is a lot we can do to make next year’s even better. Here are just a few:

• The question: “How many people does your company employ?” should be required.

• The question: “If you do work for external clients, where are they located?” should not be required.

• Expand options in the question “What type of company do you work for?” to include media, financial, and marketing & advertising agencies.

• Rephrase the responses for hours worked per week to better highlight typical scenarios. E.g. 20 hours (part-time), 32 hours (4-day work week), 40 hours, More than 40, More than 60, etc.

• Devise questions that better distinguish between freelancers working with several clients, those on full-time, long-term contracts with a company, and full-time employees.

• Include “retainer” as a freelance payment type and ask respondents to specify hourly or daily.

• Ask respondents which tasks they enjoy the most, and which ones they dislike the most.

• Ask respondents how they use professional associations.

• Time the survey so that responses can be compared with the latest IAI salary survey data.

Tell us what you think! We’d love to hear from you: [email protected]

2012 user experience in canada - work & salary survey

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