Dive Club 🤿 Ryan Scott - The skills that get designers promoted
39 snips
Nov 7, 2025 Ryan Scott, a designer and product strategist with experience at Airbnb and DoorDash, shares invaluable insights on career advancement for designers. He stresses the importance of showing business impact over mere craft to captivate hiring leaders. Ryan discusses how to effectively pitch ideas, utilize data, and tell compelling portfolio stories that reflect business value. He also explores strategic opportunities and how designers can adapt to the evolving job market, particularly with AI's rise and changing team dynamics.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Craft Gets You Hired; Impact Gets You Promoted
- Visual craft gets designers hired but not promoted; business impact does.
- Designers must create high-ROI value to become irreplaceable and advance their careers.
Bar Shifted, Not Just More Competition
- The hiring bar has shifted toward very specific profiles, not necessarily more competition.
- Companies over-filter for narrow puzzle pieces and miss many qualified candidates.
Pitch Yourself As A Business Investment
- Sell the business impact of your work, not just craft or visuals.
- Frame hires as investments and quantify how you'll move metrics or revenue.