How bad is the design job market now in India?is there an over supply? What makes a deisgner standout giving him edge over layoffs. I hear people telling to upskill . But what exactly to upskils _ tools,stack,process?

Nothing gives anyone a layoff. I have seen some awesome designers in my previous organisation being laid off and I was laid off 6months after. Your CTC is the only edge you might have which saves you from a layoff. Design job for less than 1yoe is bad. 4 months of job hunt has definitely taught me that being patient and saying the right things takes your places. Upskilling might be required once you join the company but before that playing your cards smartly in interviews is imp.

Are there too many designers? Yes. Are they all good? Well, no.

While everyone and their granny's become a UX designer these days, and I blame YouTube 'influencer' designers for this, the quality seems to be atrocious. Tons of design schools making a quick buck have created an army of post-in note welding, sprint-taking, gradient-abusing, auto-layout-violating designers, who have allll the gyan but none of the experience.

Jobs are safe.