A presentation delivered at World IA Day 2015 in Wellington, New Zealand. What different roles have you had in the past? How have you made decisions that will advance your career and make you happier? I reflected on my own career and came up with 10 tips to help you have an awesome career—and be happier as a result.

1. F R O M C U B I C L E T O C L O U D 9 :
A R C H I T E C T I N G U X C A R E E R H A P P I N E S S
M A T T H E W M A G A I N
@ M A T T Y M C G

2. I gave this talk on my birthday, which is why I had
more license than usual to talk about myself!

3. I visualise information—animated videos, graphic
recording, visual facilitation. I also illustrated a kid’s
book. UX helped me find this common thread.

4. C O D E
M O N K E Y
A R T I S T I C
I N S T R U C T O R
W O R D
N E R D
P I X E L
P U S H E R
U X
U N I C O R N
V I VA C I O U S
V I S U A L I S E R

5. I drew a lot as a kid—comics, caricatures. If I wasn’t on
the computer, I was drawing.

7. An illustrated essay about the ANZACs. Clearly I
failed to grasp the horror of war at 8 years old!

8. Even at university when I was studying Maths and
Physics, I would use type, colour and containers to
make my notes more readable and visual.

9. C O D E M O N K E Y
I worked as a software
developer for a few years.
I was never really passionate
about code though, and
ran away to teach English
in Japan, and think about
things.

10. A R T I S T I C I N S T R U C T O R
Working as a school teacher
meant I began drawing again,
creating board games
and worksheets for
my students. I discovered
the web as a medium
where I could be both
creative and technical.

11. W O R D N E R D
When I came back to
Australia I got a job
editing computer
books. I got to
combine my love of
language and teaching
with my technical
skills. It was fun!

12. P I X E L P U S H E R
I moved from an editing role
to graphic design and web
design roles, and eventually
lead the design team at SitePoint.
But my process sucked—I had
no experience in validating or
communicating my designs.

13. U X U N I C O R N
A mentor spelled out for
me what he thought was
“best practice” and I
applied some of these
techniques at work. What do
you know, they worked!
I became passionate
about UX design and
started uxmastery.com with a friend as a
way of sharing what I’d learned with others.

14. V I VA C I O U S V I S U A L I S E R
Part of my journey to improve
as a UX designer included
helping the organisations I
worked with improve their
visual literacy. This lead to me
creating whiteboard animations,
and performing graphic facilitation
at conferences and workshops.

15. B I R T H D AY B O Y
This field we call “UX” let me explore all of these fields
without making too many drastic changes to my career.
Working as a UX professional gives you plenty of room
to move around, so you’re never stuck in a rut.

16. 1 0 T I P S F O R A R C H I T E C T I N G
U X C A R E E R H A P P I N E S S

17. 1 . L O V E T H E W O R K Y O U D O .
( O R Q U I T. )
C H E C K O U T Z E N P E N C I L S . C O M

18. 2 . K N O W Y O U R S H I T
It’s hard to great work if
you’re still getting your head
around the basics. Doing
great work is very satisfying
and makes us happy!

19. 3 . B E L O YA L ( B U T N O T T O O L O YA L )
Loyalty is a good thing, but don’t forget to look out
for yourself. If the time comes that you don’t believe
in the vision of your employer anymore, do
something about it.

20. 4 . E M B R A C E F E A R
Someone once told me that
fear was an indicator that
something big was about to
happen. I’m
a big believer
in this.

21. 5 . F I N D A M E N T O R
M E N T O R S
The moments that I took big steps
(e.g. my first public
speaking gig, leaving my
job to go freelance) were a
direct result of my mentor
challenging me to put myself
out of my comfort zone.

22. 6 . N E T W O R K L I K E A M O - F O
Meetups, conferences, coffee
chats … you never know what
opportunities might come
along if you don’t get out
there and meet people.

23. 7 . A S K F O R F O R G I V E N E S S ,
N O T P E R M I S S I O N
If you believe that
running some usability
tests or performing user
research is the right thing
to do, do it, and face the
consequences rather than
waiting for permission
that may never be
forthcoming.

24. 8 . O W N Y O U R C H A N N E L
Personal branding is a
necessity in this day and
age. It can be easy to feel
like you need to “be
everywhere”. It’s better to
pick one channel (e.g.
Twitter, YouTube?) and
do it well.

25. 9 . B E A C O N D U I T
Connecting others is a valuable skill that people
pay lots of money for (it’s called recruiting). If you
can bring people you know
together, it will
come back to
you in spades.

26. 1 0 . TA K E A C T I O N
There are lots of good
books about taking control
of your career, or your
life. But reading
them amounts to
nothing if you
don’t take action.

27. Two days before I gave this talk, I received news that
a friend’s young son had passed away in tragic
circumstances. This knocked the wind out of me, and
made me question this list of tips I’d put together.
I realised that more important than “finding my
passion” or “being happy” was family. Ultimately,
every decision I’ve made has been for them. I’m very
fortunate that the flexible hours I work means I’m
able to be there for my daughters.

28. M AT T H E W M A G A I N
@ M AT T Y M C G
U X M A S T E RY. C O M