My Journey to UX

Hey everyone, I wanted to talk about the three things that help me transition into the UX design field in this article.

I've worked as a UX designer for the past 2 years now. So I definitely understand when you're starting how difficult it can be to get a callback, get an interview and stay motivated to keep going. There's a huge misconception that you have to have formal training as a designer or come from a design background to get started in UX design. I myself was a developer before becoming a designer. There have been other people I've met who worked in different industries such as nursing, carpentry, and sales before they transitioned into UX design.

№1: Don' Afraid to Explore

I think one of the first things that helped me starting was that I wasn't afraid to experiment or explore, and by that, I mean I learned HTML, CSS, JavaScript, CSS animations, and a popular framework at the time called Ruby on Rails, which helped me build some Web applications and these are not necessarily things that you need to learn and understand as a UX designer. But I think for me, it just confirmed the idea that I'd like to see things through and execute them from the beginning stages of a project to the end. So from the beginning of sketching out an idea to implementation to seeing it live, I really enjoy something that gives me a lot of fulfilment.

In the beginning, I wasn't even really sure if I wanted to be a UX designer. I had created logos and illustrations for friends who built their own crappy websites. In the end, this didn't turn out to be a waste of time at all because I was able to add that to my portfolio, and it just kind of increased my breadth of work and knowledge.

№2: Meetups with Professional designers

I think another thing that really helped me was going to meetups and getting my work critiqued. By doing this, I was able to gain a support group of not only people who were like myself, coming from different industries and trying to aspire to become a UX designer. But I actually formed relationships with professional UX designers who could keep me inspired and keep me motivated when I really felt low. Another great part about going to meetups was that not only was I able to get my work critiqued, but I could do usability tests with people in the room. So on these interviews that I was going on, I can tell the story. I had my sketches, I did a high-fidelity mock, I got the mock tested with real people, I got real feedback, and I could show them the redesigned version of what I had made. So not only that, I think this was a cool idea; I was learning what a UX designer did before I ever became a professional UX designer. So I think that just showed my motivation and my interest in becoming a designer.

One of the last and most important things that I did was put myself out there. Like I said before, I didn't know if I wanted to work in UX because it felt like career suicide. I was transitioning from a completely different field. I had bills to pay, I didn't have a design education, I was scared, and it just didn't seem real for me to actually do this until I got in touch with a few designers who had already worked in the industry. I learned that a lot of times, we had similar life experiences. They often made their way into UX from different roles in marketing or sales or whatever, which helped me see the possibility and potential of where I could go for myself.

№3: Reach out to the Hiring Managers

Another thing that I did was I went to job fairs. I spoke to hiring managers, got my work critiqued by them, and a lot of times that helped me learn about intangibles that they were seeking in designers as well as hard skills, because a lot of times, from what I've learned, it's not about what you know. Still, it's about who you are as a person and connecting with the people you're going to work with, and eventually, after going to a few of these job fairs, boosting my confidence. All that, I landed my first couple of roles in UX from people that I met at job fairs and, to be honest, one of the job interviews that I won on is the hiring manager reached out to me a week or two later, and she said you are selected. Earlier, I didn't get the job because I was overqualified, and it is as sad as I was when I didn't get the role; I felt on top of the world because it showed that my hard work was paying off. I was going in the right direction because I was transitioning from a completely different field, and I was so scared, but it showed that the hard work I was doing was paying off.

Conclusion

So hopefully, me sharing some of my experiences helps you in your own journey because I know when I started initially, it was really tough for me to see the possibility of work where I could go. After all, I didn't see other designers; I didn't know people from different backgrounds and transitioned into UX. So hopefully, this article helped you in any way.