I quit my job during COVID-19 to become a UX Designer
Part 1: The Start of the Journey.
Yes, you read it right. In a time when many would be glad to still have a job, I am leaving a safe heaven to translate a long cherished wish into action.
Continue reading if…
- …you want to be inspired to pursue your dreams, be it becoming a UX Designer or something completely different.
- … you want an authentic impression of who I am. Maybe we’ll work together in the future?
- … you have set off for a transformational journey yourself, and have advice for me.
Why?
I learnt early on that I love looking at challenges from a holistic perspective. In my freshmen’s year all students had to visit a course called ‘Interdisciplinary Problem-Solving’. Each team got assigned a different topic (ours was ‘Management of a Tourism Destination’) and we learnt applying a very visual method to uncover the complexities of this topic, documented in ‘Die Praxis des ganzheitlichen Problemlösens’.
By mapping out different stakeholders and environmental influences and connecting them with arrows and symbols, we made abstract dynamics seizable. Every team member had to research different aspects of the topic and together we tried to connect all these point of views in a meaningful way.
There was not just ’cause and effect’, but an entire landscape to make sense of! We learnt that in order to tackle a challenge, we had to keep interdependencies in mind and that there were more causes and influences than first met the eye. And we learnt how to work as a team. Clearly not everybody’s favorite pass-time, but the sooner in life you appreciate how different characters can elevate a project, if managed the right way, the better.
In short: I came to love this comprehensive approach! Once all factors were on the table, I took on the task of visualizing the mess and enjoyed it big time. Our paper became the best of the entire course.
Experiencing ‘aha-moments’ when putting myself into someone else’s shoes, connecting different view points and condensing them to a visual outcome that makes the world a little more understandable and enjoyable stayed my passion ever since. I put this desire to action in my Master thesis, in which I visualized a Project Management Guide in collaboration with a big consumer goods company.
More than ever I knew that visualizing complexity in an enjoyable way is my strength. But right after I finished my studies in 2012, I could not find a job that fit that wish and corresponded to my qualifications. I was too broke to study again (web design or similar) and was too insecure to create my own job.
Eventually I applied to conventional Marketing jobs (after all I had a fabulous double-degree in Marketing & International Management!) and succeeded in making Digital Marketing my profession. The fact that in the digital space user actions and therefore success were more trackable — hence visual — than in traditional marketing, had lured me. However, rather than creating experiences, I found myself mostly coordinating agencies, internal and external stakeholders. It paid the bills, but I always felt I was not using my full potential.
Fast forward 5 years: in late 2018 a friend from the anglo-saxon area first drew my attention to the rising field of UX Design. I dived into it and realized “UX Designer” was the job description I had longed for! In Digital Marketing my job usually ended after I had managed to drive a user to a property through social or other ads, which consistently left me unsatisfied. I wanted to manage this experience holistically! The thought to change my field of work had entered my head and has not left it since.
Now?
I handed in my resignation the week before we all converted to #WFH. Did I know what was about to happen with the world? No. Do I know now? No.
All I know is that I had no reason to wait longer. After 6 years of working full-time, ‘too broke’ is no longer an excuse and it became evident that my current work-place did not provide me with an opportunity to live for my passion. Not that people there did not know about my fancy. I read ‘The Design of everyday things’ by Don Norman or ‘Don’t Make me think’ by Steve Krug and kept telling everybody how UX could transform the way we’d all work together. But that simply was not enough to start a revolution.
I reduced my working hours in Q4 2019 (or at least tried to) to take on an ‘An Introduction in UX Design’ course by Stanford Continuing Studies and continued right away with the ‘Become a UX Designer from Scratch’ course from the Interaction Design Foundation (IDF).
While I particularly pursued the latter with a lot of sincerity, I felt that I could not free up enough time to be completely serious. Sure, I learnt a lot on these courses, but studying part-time did not give me the necessary extra pressure to really shift my career. I decided that I needed to step out of my comfort zone.
How?
I knew it from my courses, feedback from a UX professionals in the bay area as well as from an initial contact with a potential employer: in UX there is no way around a portfolio. In my home country, Switzerland, I know of graphic / visual designers that added short-courses about UX to their job experience and thus made the shift, but without such background it seems pretty clear to me that I do not only need a portfolio, but also must professionalize my (graphic)design skills. And I can’t wait to do this, because I know I enjoy it!
I am used to teach myself graphic programs, won at drawing competitions, published a city map for Singapore or took courses to learn how to make infographics and fashion t-shirt designs, to name just a few hands-on creative activities I pursued.
The passion was always there, but I was afraid to focus.
Portfolio projects should express who you are, what you care about and have an actual impact. Hence, in Q1 2020 I worked with two start-ups at idea stage that each set out to solve problems in an area I felt strongly connected to: Sustainability & E-commerce. It seemed like the right thing to do, except it wasn’t. The e-commerce one seemed like it was up to something real right away. So expertise was wanted. Now. And luckily we got people on board that had professional UX /design skills. Which meant I resorted to conducting user interviews, doing competitor research and storyboard / act for the video-submission for the virtual hackathon we participated at. At the prototyping my responsibilities would end. This could have satisfied me, if I wanted to become a UX Researcher. But I am thirsting to manage the whole process and get my ‘hands dirty’.
I decided that I value my time and need a better success guarantee. I am still happy to support early-stage projects with my expertise, but first I need a foundation.
On the plus side, both projects taught me that juggling several projects besides a 100%-job comes to me naturally, especially when others rely on me. I also noticed that I like to take the lead, when I believe in the idea.
So, back to pursuing UX part-time? Nah… the pleasant anticipation of pursuing this passion full-time has overruled. And I value to still have sufficient time for sports, some socializing and healthy eating on the side. Hence, for now I decided that I will sign up for one of the infamous bootcamps out there. Full-time. With mentorship support. From July.
Unless you, dear reader, have a better idea?
I have not yet decided for which bootcamp I’ll go for, but I intend to thoroughly document my experience. Inputs are welcome.
This is the first article of a series in which I will document my journey. I am happy to count you to my esteemed readership.
