Working smarter, not harder, on your job search

For your listening pleasure 🎧

Essay: What are you willing to risk? ✊

Whether you’re overworked, undervalued, or you see your colleagues being mistreated, taking the risk to stand up for what is right and get what we deserve, especially at work, is scary. Fear of consequences in an environment full of imbalanced power dynamics is a natural and legit human response.

Letting fear drive our choices, however, prevents us from using our power—and for some, our privilege—to make things better for ourselves and others.

Please take a moment to read this inspiring call to action from Mandy Brown, who reminds us that our innate individual power is a resource to be activated for the greater good. Not using it is to squander it, keeping us trapped in systems of abuse and exploitation, whether at home, at work, or in our broader society. And with the incoming authoritarian administration, we’re going to need more people following this as a rule, rather than seeing it as an ideal. So I ask: What are you willing to risk?

This is also why I strongly believe worker unions are so necessary in today’s socioeconomically precarious society. And yes, even for people in tech! In fact, we deserve a union! The risk becomes less risky, and the fear weaker, when we take it on collectively. Unions are—and always have been—one of the most effective mechanisms for improving society for everyone. It’s especially true now that pretty much all other social and political institutions have failed us by design.

If you’re interested in getting involved in the tech worker labor movement, or unionizing your workplace, come join me over at Tech Workers Coalition to get started, connect with organizers, or get plugged into an ongoing project.

Trust me when I say that your inbox could use a regular dose of Working Title, a newsletter from Nikki Espartinez that explores the future of work, design methodologies, the philosophy of tech, culture, and personal growth. I’ve enjoyed Nikki’s writing and projects since 2020, from her incisive essays and practical tools to her brilliant conceptual illustrations, which always make the neurons in my brain go oooooohhh. I have learned things, and so will you. Start with a few of my favorite issues:

• #79: The impossible work of navigating changes: Early thoughts on the current state of the free market, design and the future

• #70: 10 short lessons learned in life, in business & everything in between. Solve the problems in your head to win the ones in your life.

• #30: How to Design a Bio, Part 1 & 2: Own the experience of telling your story

Thanks for being here!

P.S. Want to explore working with me on your UX job search, career goals, and workplace challenges? Check out my offerings, or reply to this email and let me know what I can help with! ✨