[cmrdporcupine]

Unfortunately it seems like most staffing departments seem to think that this is what UX is. Often where you'd see "web designer" or "graphic designer" before, it's been renamed to "UX designer" and the emphasis is really on visual appeal or ability to toss together web pages etc. rather than on the skill of information architecture, usability flows, user research etc. For some people there's an overlap in these skills, but not for all people.

My wife is trained in UX research and UX/UI design and is trying to break back into the job market after years of being out (kids, sick mother, school, etc.) and although she had a background in some graphic design (and marketing and content) years ago, she doesn't feel confident-in or want to emphasise on graphic design and doesn't have an up to date portfolio of that kind of thing. And what she is finding is almost all the positions titled "UX Designer" are really just "web design" or "graphic designer" with a fancy new title, and they won't look at her, really.

The few times that I've done front end work I've always found it frustrating how the UX people I worked with seemed more concerned right up-front with pixel padding and font choices and colours and animations and logos than with getting the initial storyboard and low fidelity mockups right first.

TLDR; most shops hiring "UX designer" are really wanting to hire graphic designers and pixel slingers.

P.S. if you know of anybody hiring (remote, full or part time or freelance) for UX research, content design, information architecture, and so on and who wants a mature and conscientious worker with past professional experience in the tech sector... ping me at ryan . daum @ gmail.com