123: How a 25-Year UX veteran rewrote his career story & reclaimed his confidence

Applied to 50+ UX or Product jobs & still no interviews or offers? Get UX job search help.

Welcome to the Career Strategy Podcast with Sarah Doody, a UX Designer & UX Researcher with 20 years of experience who founded the UX job search accelerator, Career Strategy Lab. She's been doing UX career coaching since 2017.

Follow Sarah on: LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram

In this special open house episode, Sarah Doody chats with Joshua, a UX design leader with over 20 years of experience, about the reality of navigating a job search after a long career in enterprise environments. Josh opens up about the challenges of staying relevant in a shifting industry, rebuilding his confidence after burnout, and reframing what it means to craft a compelling portfolio—even without flashy Figma work.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ How Josh is positioning himself for a new chapter after 20+ years in UX

✔️ Why your portfolio doesn’t need to be visual to be powerful

✔️ The mindset shift that helped Josh regain clarity and momentum

✔️ How asking former colleagues for feedback transformed his self-perception

✔️ What it looks like to find leadership roles that align with your values

✔️ Tips on managing your time, energy, and expectations in the job search

Timestamps:

00:20 Welcome to the Career Strategy Podcast

00:58 Episode Overview and Listener Engagement

01:43 Meet Josh Vaughn: UX Design Leader

02:33 Josh's Career Journey and Challenges

04:53 The Importance of Storytelling in Portfolios

06:45 Building Confidence and Career Strategy

11:55 Reflecting on Career Strategy Lab

13:23 Final Thoughts and Advice

14:51 Conclusion and Farewell

16:05 Podcast Outro

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