Move 2: Build product thinking early

Patricia urges juniors to learn product metrics, business trade-offs, and ask strategic questions in meetings early on.

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Episode notes

In this episode of Future of UX, I’m sharing the three things I would do if I were starting my design career today as a junior UX/UI/Product Designer.

And I’m not saying this as abstract advice. I’m saying it as someone who started almost 10 years ago with basically zero real UX skills, taught myself a lot on the job, and built a career in a market that was booming back then.

The difference is: the market today is tighter, teams are leaner, and AI is automating a lot of the tasks that used to be classic “junior work.” So the big question becomes:

If execution is getting cheaper and faster… what becomes valuable?

What’s actually changing for junior designers (and why it’s not just hype)
Which junior tasks are increasingly automated
Where junior designers are most vulnerable (and how to avoid that trap)
The 3 highest-leverage moves I’d focus on in 2026–2028:
1. Become AI-native (build workflows, not just prompts)
2. Build product thinking early (learn the “why,” not just the “how”)
3. Become the human layer in human–AI systems (trust, transparency, oversight)

You don’t need to master every tool. But you do need to move. Start small, build confidence, and position yourself above pure execution work.

What we coverKey takeawayAnd if you want to connect, I’m most active on LinkedIn (and sometimes on Instagram too), where I share tools, resources, and experiments.

🔗 Resources Mentioned

The Shape of AI – AI UX Patterns Library: https://www.shapeof.ai/

Microsoft HAX Toolkit – Guidelines for Human–AI Interaction
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/haxtoolkit/ai-guidelines/

Google PAIR – People + AI Research
https://design.google/library/people-ai-research

People + AI Guidebook (Google PAIR)
https://pair.withgoogle.com/guidebook/

World Economic Forum – Future of Jobs Report
https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report/

McKinsey – The Economic Potential of Generative AI
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai

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