https://uxdc.us/events/uxdcconf-2

1. Agency vs. In-House
Nina Amato
UX at an

2. I’m going to tell about how
the UX practice is different
at an agency vs in-house,
how the job interviews differed,
and what it’s like to work
in both environments.
YMMV.

3. Hi! I’m Nina.
I’m a UX and UI designer.
Previously I’ve worked at a design agency and
as a contractor for multiple government
agencies.
I work in-house at a large non-profit.

4. The Job Interview

5. My second interview at the design
agency was a presentation to
senior leadership.

6. The organization wants to know how
you’re going to solve their
problems.
The In-House Interview

7. The agency wanted to know
that I had the specific skills
required to do the tasks that
clients hired us to do
(e.g. design wireframes, create
personas, run card sorts, etc.).
The in-house organization
wanted someone who could
solve their problems. They
didn’t ask if me if I knew how
to conduct a tree jack test.
They asked me how I’d
improve their product, and
I suggested a tree jack test.
Agency Interview In-House Interview

8. UX at an Agency

9. At an agency, you need to
sell your designs, and the
value of your findings, to clients.

10. A VP helped me rehearse for a big
presentation for eight hours.

11. Pros and Cons of
Working at an Agency

12. Pros of Working at an Agency

13. Two years at an agency will give
you more varied experience than
two years in-house.
A new client every two months = a
dozen clients in two years.

14. At an agency, you get experience with a
lot of organizations in a short
amount of time. You get exposure to
different types of clients.
You get to see patterns. You see multiple
clients making the same mistakes
and you get to see their different
approaches to problem-solving.

15. You tend to do the same types of tasks
over and over for different clients.
Thus you get really good at them.
When you’re in-house, you may run a
card sort once in a two-year period.
When you’re at an agency, you run
them all the time. You learn them
really well and get comfortable with
them.

16. • Mentorship (official or not)
• New technology
• You will learn a lot really quickly.
It’s great for early career folks.

17. Cons

18. You need to be very efficient with your time.
Tight Deadlines
This deserves
its own slide.

19. Clients tend to need the same service.
The work can get repetitive.
It can feel like you’re doing the
same things over and over again.

20. Your work tends to just
scratch the surface.
A client may hire your firm
to redesign their website
and to do UX research to
help that effort.
You don’t get to dig in as
deep with the client’s needs
as you do when you’re in
house.
You don’t often get to hear
if your suggestions had
long-term positive effects.

21. Pros of Working In-House

22. In less than two years, I’ve:
Depth Rather Than Breadth
• Conducted affinity mapping
exercises around the country
• Conducted 40 usability tests
• Performed tree jack tests
• Flown to three of our conferences
to meet with users
• Written two surveys and advised on
others.
• Coordinated A/B testing
• Designed a way to test the relevance
of subject tags on articles
• Designed a web page

23. I spent an hour per week filling
out my timesheet at the agency
because of the different charge
codes for different clients.
I had to record every 15
minutes of work.
Easier Timesheet
Now I only have one charge
code. I don’t have to divide my
time by project.
YMMV.

24. Cons

25. You only work with one
client. You may spend a
year or more on one
product.
There’s more
administrative work.
Booking a room
at a convention
center requires
its own skillset.

26. Summary

27. Fast pace Relaxed pace
Agency In-House
Lots of clients & products One client & fewer products
Presentation is a big part of the job Less pressure when presenting work
You get a lot of experience really quickly.
Great for early career.
It’s helpful to already know UX so you
can recommend research methods and
tools.
Similar work repeated for different
clients.
More focused work at a deeper level

28. Thank you!
@nina_amato
Nina Amato