I just wanted to throw my 2 cents into the conversation, although I'm no longer a practicing UX consultant. For two years I was a freelance UX-er, but I recently made the leap to a full-time role — not in UX, but in digital strategy. My reasons for making such a big change (after nearly 10 years in UX related fields) was that I became frustrated with the direction of many of the UX projects I was getting. For example, I would be hired to help a company create a microsite — when a microsite was entirely the wrong strategy for them. Although many companies value the role of UX in creating the overall strategy for an online project, in my experience it has become more common to relegate that responsibility to a strategist, account exec, or even the client themselves. I believe that these challenges can be even greater when you are a consultant/ freelancer, rather than staff, as you are limited in your ability to affect true organizational change. I'd be curious to hear if other folks who respond to your survey have run into this, and, if so, what their solutions have been.

Best of luck!

Marci

[...] Pleasure and Pain » Seeking All Independent User Experience Professionals in NYC whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/08/28/seeking-all-independent-user-experience-professionals-in-nyc – view page – cached Improving the human experience one day at a time. Written by Whitney Hess — From the page [...]