UI / UX design - "fashion" or real prospects?

Question

User interface

The question may seem banal, but...
Please answer point by point:
1) How much is the demand for the profession of UI / UX designer now?
2) How many more years will it be in demand?
3) Or is the profession of a UI / UX designer just a temporary "fashion" and very soon it will become unclaimed?
4) What is the reason for such a boom in the profession of UI / UX designers lately? With the fact that there are more smartphones in the world?
PS I'm asking because, in fact, graphic and web designers used to deal with UI / UX. That is, there was no such division into web designers and interface designers.

Answer 1

How in-demand is the profession of UI/UX designer now?

I just saw a repost on Twitter that they are recruiting people in the Bing UX group. But, in any case, it is better to look at the sites with vacancies, and not to ask here.
Until robots take over the world. At the moment, when they say "UI / UX designer" most often they mean "an intelligent front-end developer and an intelligent designer all rolled into one." Both of them are separately needed, and, apparently, will be needed in the future.
Returning to point 2: now it is fashionable to call it this word, in a few years it will be called another. Whether the meaning will change a lot. This profession will be in demand in any case, the only thing that can happen to it (and it seems that this is already noticeable) is the phenomenon of the lack of adequate ~junior level vacancies. Which is logical - to design a normal ux you need to know quite a lot of things.
More likely. And, even more importantly, people who use these smartphones are becoming more picky. If the page loads for a few seconds, they go to competitors, if it is not clear where to press, they go to competitors, if the red pop-up button scares them, they go to competitors, etc. Do not forget that a whole generation has grown up with the Internet from birth. And these are potential buyers (or at least their parents are potential buyers). Accordingly, the seller-employer is interested in keeping these customers, and for this he needs a person who understands ux.

Answer 2

1) this is one of the most demanded professions now in the digital industry
2) how much it will be in demand depends on the development of this industry. And it looks like it's only gaining momentum. But if you are waiting for a figure in years, then probably no one will tell you. This is already from the field of extrasensory perception :)
3) it's not a fashion, but a necessity. The industry is developing. The demand for websites is growing. Web applications are popping up like mushrooms. And site creation tools are simplified by how much, that almost anyone can make a business card site on their knees. But this site should somehow look like ... Not just as an abstract framework. And this is where programmers need the help of a UX/UI designer. Because it is his direct duty to "sell" a product or service through a web interface. It is on the basis of the work of UX / UI that the user makes a decision: "to be or not to be?" Like or dislike? And the programmer only ensures proper performance - functionality that is not noticeable to the average user.
4) UX/UI design is not just aboutto smartphones. Moreover, the profession of UX/UI designer has existed since time immemorial. It just wasn't called that before. For example, when Wilhelm Schickard invented the world's first adding machine in 1623, he was a UX/UI designer.
Because he came up with which toggle switches and in what sequence a person should turn in order to get the result of calculations. And he also came up with the logical order in which they would be located. Yes, and how in general all these pens will look. He created an interface for interacting with the machine.
An even more ancient and more primitive example can be given - a grindstone (wheel). Even in the early Middle Ages, there were many varieties and mechanisms of such a wheel. It can be turned by hand with a crank, it could be turned by several people, or it was even possible to press the pedal with your foot without hands, etc.
For some reason the post got cut off. Read more in the comments.

Answer 3

and very soon it will become unclaimed?

Perhaps a couple of years ... and a mustache :-(