To successfully design something that solves users’ problems and meets their needs, UX professionals must be able to get out of their own heads, interact with a cross-section of users, empathize with them, and apply what they’ve shared to the product development process.

Because of that focus on sharing information and learnings, UX designers tend to help each other out: passing along tips, suggesting new tools to use, and imparting lessons learned throughout their careers.

We turned to UX pros at various stages of their careers—from recent bootcamp grads to people with 20+ years of design experience—to find out what valuable lessons they’ve learned during their UX journeys. True to form, they were delighted to share.

There were several recurring themes, chief among them:

• The importance of feedback: both receiving it (without becoming defensive) and giving it (without coming across as harsh).

• The benefit of diverse perspectives, in terms of working with a cross-functional team and when it comes to testing designs with different types of users.

• The freedom of not knowing, and why “I don’t know” is not just an acceptable answer but the best one to have when beginning the UX design process.

Anyone who wants to improve their UX skills by learning from other people’s mistakes. Whether you’re still exploring the possibility of a UX design career or you’re a longtime veteran of the industry, this free book is a must-read!