IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Sep 2025

UX Research, Management, and Design: What a Textual Analysis of UX Job Ads Means for Technical Communication

Guiseppe Getto Mercer University ; Bremen Vance Mercer University

Abstract

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>Background:</i></b> Technical and professional communication and user experience (UX) have become intertwined as sister disciplines. Graduates of technical communication programs are pursuing jobs in UX and researchers in technical communication are studying UX. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>Literature review:</i></b> At the same time, little attention has been paid to the skills required for jobs such as UX designer and UX researcher, though one landmark study a decade ago was the first to detail such trends. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>Research questions:</i></b> 1. What language do employers use to explain UX job skills? 2. What specific job titles do employers describe when advertising UX positions to potential applicants? <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>Research methodology:</i></b> As part of an ongoing research project examining nearly 15,000 job ads from the US, in this article, we will analyze a corpus of UX job ads for trends including specific roles that are emerging within UX as definable occupations. We do so by identifying trends in keyword usage across job ads, as well as zeroing in on skill sets that seem important to employers looking to hire UX professionals. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>Results/discussion:</i></b> Our findings extend previous research to detail stronger differentiation between the skill sets required of UX designers and UX researchers, as well as revealing new roles previously unexamined in past literature. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Several new skill sets emerging in UX are important to introduce to students, including new visual design tools, product design skills, and project management skills. We owe it to our students to continue to track skills that emerge in this fast-moving field.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
2025-09-01
DOI
10.1109/tpc.2025.3585380
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Topics
discourse analysis technical communication professional writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (11)

  1. Cosgrove (2023)
    Finding the Gap: A Comparison of UX Industry Practices and UX Course Outcomes i…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
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    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
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    The Story/Test/Story Method: A Combined Approach to Usability Testing and Conte…
    Computers and Composition
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    Hand Collecting and Coding Versus Data-Driven Methods in Technical and Professi…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
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    User-Centered Design In and Beyond the Classroom: Toward an Accountable Practice
    Computers and Composition
Show all 11 →
  1. St.Amant (2018)
    Contextualizing Cyber Compositions for Cultures: A Usability-Based Approach to …
    Computers and Composition
  2. Getto et al. (2017)
    Mapping Personas: Designing UX Relationships for an Online Coastal Atlas
    Computers and Composition
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    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
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