Number of UX professionals in the UK

Question

I am having big trouble getting hold of an estimation of the number of UX professionals in the UK. Tried the UKPA, ONS, Data.gov etc but no trace of relevant data.

Is anyone able to guide me towards a better direction?

Answer 1

You can make rough estimates by

• performing advanced search on LinkedIn. You can search for "UX OR user experience" keyword within people profiles from UK. I see 3360 profiles (I filtered by "current" title).
• checking how much members from UK there are in IXDA members list (http://www.ixda.org/members).

Or/and:

• ask in relevant threads on quora.com - since there are many managers, you may get an insider reply.
• ask in relevant groups on LinkedIn (e.g., UX Professionals and User Experience groups)
• contact Leisa Reichelt, http://www.disambiguity.com/ I remember she was managing ning community for freelance UX professionals (maybe it was even mostly for people from UK - I don't remember); she is active in UX community and is a UK person, so she may have some data or estimates.