(Length: 5 pages)

Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

Nearly 900 US-based user experience (UX) professionals — including information architects, usability practitioners, interface designers, and usability managers — responded to the Usability Professionals' Association's (UPA) 2005 salary survey. The data shows that salaries vary by position, experience, advanced degrees, geography, and gender. The big takeaway? UX professionals are a steal — the potential ROI of usability and design fixes far outweighs the costs of UX salaries. But low salaries have a negative long-term impact on the field: Companies looking to beef up their staff with experienced professionals or Ph.D.'s may find these candidates hard to come by.