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Content Designer✍🏼UX Writer✏️Content Strategist🧠Video Maker📽Lover of commas & keyframes

Ask me anything (about 1 thing I wish I knew before starting in UX writing): ❓ Have questions? I'll answer them! If you want to know more about #UXWriting#ContentDesign#ContentStrategy, career transitions, or anything else, send me your questions. I'll respond in a post like this. You can leave questions as comments below, or you can message me. I hope this project helps anyone who's curious about the field. If you want to know more about something, there's a good chance other people have similar thoughts. Hope to hear from you! 😄 *** Q: What's 1 thing you wish you'd known before starting your first UX writing/content strategy job? A: Great question! It's hard to limit this to 1 answer. In fact, the topic has been a running series on LinkedIn for me throughout the year. Check out a link to the most recent post in the comments! But as I think about this more, I return to how managers and environments influence so much of our development and day-to-day happiness. A while back, I addressed the importance of great managers and healthy environments. As part of that post, I wrote this: "When searching for a position, find a manager who's empathetic, inspirational, and experienced. Study what they do and say. Take qualities you admire and apply them to your work. "Healthy environments allow this to happen. "Avoid overly competitive situations. They lead to too much drama. You don't need the added stress, especially as someone starting a new career. "Be intentional about who mentors you and where you grow. These factors influence so much. "The right choices will launch your career to places you never knew you could go." I still believe all that. It's important to have good managers and quality environments at any stage of a professional journey. But especially when changing careers, managers and environments shape so much. Be intentional about where you start a new path. If you find a great situation, you'll develop in ways that exceed your expectations. (Thanks to Kaitlin Lindros for the question!)

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Andrew Astleford

Content Designer✍🏼UX Writer✏️Content Strategist🧠Video Maker📽Lover of commas & keyframes

2y

See the previous posts 👇 Differences and similarities between writing for B2B clients and UX writing: https://bit.ly/31ocrz7 Reaching out to companies to get UX writing experience: https://bit.ly/3BUSVYb UX writing course recs: https://bit.ly/2XesNIL UX writing hacks: https://bit.ly/3mWeKAo Storytelling in UX writing: https://bit.ly/3j2YQTZ Gaining experience as a UX writer: https://bit.ly/3a1mV8x UX writing voices to follow: https://bit.ly/3iqzzT7 Rebranding to break into UX writing: https://bit.ly/3ioUar4 Nontraditional entrances into UX writing: https://bit.ly/2ZnCuVX

Andrew Astleford

Content Designer✍🏼UX Writer✏️Content Strategist🧠Video Maker📽Lover of commas & keyframes

2y

My "Wish I knew it" series: https://bit.ly/3qbJ4ul

Kaitlin Lindros

UX Writer | Content Strategist | AI Conversation Designer specializing in Finance and Insurance

2y

Thanks for your answer! I'm coming out of an unhealthy work environment, so I'm definitely prioritizing relationships with the managers, mentorship, culture, etc. Follow up question: what's the best way to figure out if a company is unhealthy during the interview process? It can be hard to tell. Are there any specific questions to ask, red flags to watch out for?

Theophilus OGUNDEJI

UX Writer | I help brands profit by designing content that solves user needs while causing a higher conversion and retention rate to reduce the cost of acquiring new ones. Brands & Users win when I'm involved.

2y

Now, I must confess this is disruptive thinking for me, Andrew. Every starter wants to get experience, and I for one just want to learn and be compensated (no matter how little) for my efforts. Thank you for showing me the essence of getting it right from start.

Sophie Strosberg

Copywriter and UX writer

2y

Hi Andrew! I'm in the UXWA course right now. I'm wondering what top three tools you think new content designers should focus on mastering. I'd also love to know what functionalities you think are the most important within each of them. TIA!!

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