User Experience (UX) is probably one of the fastest evolving and most exciting disciplines to be a part of these days. As the practical value of UX-work has become more and more obvious in the past few years, the demand for UX Designers and experts has grown exponentially.

Unfortunately, there are hardly any official educational paths or certifications yet and the confusion around UX is very broad – UX is becoming a buzzword. As a result, the market is not only confused or has at best a very narrow understanding of the term, but this also offers a soil for many amateurs and fake representatives of the discipline to evolve.

Over the past few years, I have had the (dis)pleasure to meet and work with some highly promoted UX Charlatans, so that over time I started spotting the patterns – some of their similarities and tactics. My aim is to share my observations in this presentation, in the hope to save you some time, money, and frustration – no matter if you are an evolving UX Designer or a Business/Project owner in need of UX expertise.