Original Survey Questions
Here are the verbatim questions we included in the 2023 survey. Required questions are marked with an asterisk.
About you
Where in the world do you live?*
(Short answer)
Do you live where all or most of your work takes place?*
Yes
No
Other (write in)
How many of the following titles have you had in the past 4 years?
I’m looking for the range of labels given to the type of work we do, not your level. So if you’ve been a UX writer and a Staff UX writer or a UX writing manager, just select “UX writer.” If you have been working in the field for less time than that, you can use the Other field to say what you did before. I always like to know!
UX writer
Content designer
Content strategist
Product content strategist
Conversation designer
Content writer or copywriter
Information architect
UX designer
Content manager
Product designer
Other (write in)
Have you been laid off or made redundant in the past 12 months?*
Yes
No
If you said yes, would you like me to join you in a bit of screaming? If you said no, you can also answer yes here. Screaming is a pretty reasonable response to the current state of the world.
Yes
No
Your work setup
This is about how and where you work. Again, if you were laid off, use your most recent experience as you answer the questions.
What’s your current title?
(Short answer)
How many people with your job title (or similar, at any level) work at the company, including you? If your company has just gone through layoffs, use the number just before the layoff.
In other words, if you're a manager, include the number of people across the craft.
1
2-5
6-10
11-25
25-50
50+
Other (write in)
How do you work?
Remote or mostly remote
Hybrid
Entirely or mostly in office
Other (write in)
How would you like to work?
Remote or mostly remote
Hybrid
Entirely or mostly in office
Other (write in)
How does your reporting structure work?
Report to a more senior content person
Report to a technical writing or localization manager
Report to a design manager or lead
Report to a PM
Report to marketing or brand
Report directly to a VP or C-level
I am VP or C-level
I don't really report to anyone because I'm freelance
Other (write in)
Where do you sit in your organization and what works well about that?
(Long answer)
What about it doesn't work so well?
(Long answer)
Where you work
This is about where you work directly, but if you're freelance or agency, use whatever context best describes your work. Again, if you've been laid off, use your previous company.
What size company or organization do you work for?
Again, if there have been significant layoffs, select what was most accurate just before the layoff that affected you.
1-15
16-50
51-150
151-300
301-1000
1001-5000
5000+
How does your company or organization make money and/or how is it funded and structured?
For example, VC-backed, employee-owned or workers' cooperative, sales-driven SME. The purpose of this question is to look at what kinds of companies are hiring (and laying off) content folks.
(Long answer)
What kind of company or organization do you work for?
Product/ecommerce company or anything primarily digital
Government organization or department
Nonprofit/charity sector
Education or university
Agency, freelance or consultancy
A company/org outside of what we’d call “tech”
Other (write in)
If you work for a company or organization that's outside of what we'd call “tech,” such as heavy industry, logistics, or something not digital, what kind is it?
(Short answer)
What’s happening in your daily work
How often do content designers/UX writers participate in (or lead!) the following activities where you work? If you’re an ops person, manager, or otherwise not actively working on projects, use your colleagues or reports as an example.
Discovery and research
1 - Never
2
3
4
5 - Very Often
Ideation and sketching
1 - Never
2
3
4
5 - Very Often
User journeys or user flows
1 - Never
2
3
4
5 - Very Often
Developing content for or designing the design system
1 - Never
2
3
4
5 - Very Often
Information architecture (including naming)
1 - Never
2
3
4
5 - Very Often
Wireframing, mockups, prototypes
1 - Never
2
3
4
5 - Very Often
Attending design reviews/jams/crits
1 - Never
2
3
4
5 - Very Often
Working directly in design files (Figma, Sketch, whatever is used)
1 - Never
2
3
4
5 - Very Often
Presenting design work for the team (not just the content portion)
1 - Never
2
3
4
5 - Very Often
Feel free to add anything else about daily work here.
(Long answer)
How it’s all going
This is the second to last section. You're almost there!
How do you keep your own skills and knowledge fresh?
(Long answer)
What was your biggest work-related win in 2022? It can be anything!
(Long answer)
If you could magically fix one aspect of your work, process, team, or organization tomorrow, what would you fix, and what impact would it have on your life and work?
(Long answer)
Looking ahead (and way ahead)
Last section! You did it!
Thinking now about the content discipline and community itself, what, in your opinion, are the two biggest challenges we're facing in 2023?
(Long answer)
If money and stability weren’t very real and depressing issues, what would you be doing if you weren’t in content/UX?
(Long answer)
Since money and stability are a very real and depressing issue, what do you want your next career step to be?
(Long answer)
Finally, since there will be a lot of people interviewing and hiring this year, what do you think is most broken about recruiting for the kind of work we do?
(Long answer)
You can use this last field to say whatever you want, about anything.
(Long answer)