How I Got Hired: Proactiv UX Designer

Dimple: I’m Dimple and I’m a UX designer here in Los Angeles.

Zulema(Careeer.me): Awesome! Can you tell me one thing you love about your current job?

Dimple: Yeah, I’m a designer that gets to use the full UX Process, which means I get to do research, design, testing, prototyping, and a variety of different things in my job.

Zulema: Cool, I’ll tell you a little bit about my background. I actually took the UX immersive course at General Assembly, as well. I used to work at Beachbody creating testimonial content. Currently, I’m working with Careeer.me (Anya and Ryan), and we’re gathering testimonials of awesome people that they’ve helped get hired into different tech positions. Dimple, how did you become a UX designer? Where did you begin? Tell me the beginning of the story.

Dimple: I was first exposed to UX when I was in my last job at a Health nonprofit. My director came to me and said, “we need to reorganize our IA, our information architecture.” Which is pretty much your main navigation. I saw a course being offered by General Assembly, a one-day workshop around all UX practices, so I thought I’d check it out. I think that started the whole spark of UX design for me. I really liked what I learned there. I put it into practice at my last job, and made the decision to move forward with UX design after that.

Zulema: When you were going through the course was it an instant connect? Were there moments where you were like, “I’m not too sure about this?” Or did you instantly connect with that role (UX design) and the material that you were learning?

Dimple: I think we as designers all have a little moment where we’re not sure what we’re doing, we’re still figuring it out. I think probably midway through the course I had an aha moment, knowing that this is what I wanted to do. I was loving all the research we were doing and learning more about design practices. My design skills got a lot better too. That was probably the area where I was least confident. Through great teachers and other fellow students, I really learned more about the design field, and I definitely became a stronger UX professional through that course.

Zulema: My understanding is that you don’t come from a design background. You mentioned you were in nonprofit. Can you tell me what that transition was like going from non designer into a role that demanded that skill from you?

Dimple: Yeah, sure. So I didn’t come from a design background per se. I did study it in undergrad. Went to The Ohio State, studied communication, specializing in technology, minored in art and design, but didn’t necessarily move into a design role. I did roles in project management, marketing, and web development. It was in that web dev role at the nonprofit where I realized I wanted to keep moving into UX. I was in the consulting industry, the travel industry. There were a few similarities to UX and I had some exposure to it, but it wasn’t until I moved to LA where I really figured out what UX was.

Zulema: You were always in that creative realm, but you weren’t necessarily right in the UX and design process. I’m sure there were some challenges along the way while you were transitioning, whether it was through the course or even being placed in your current role. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Dimple: There were a few challenges going from my last role to my current role. Making a career transition is never easy. I did have a lot of transferable skills and education as well. I knew if I took the course at General Assembly that it would help me put the UX process into perspective. It kind of helped me fill in the blanks. But I knew that there was something that I was doing wrong. I wasn’t sure if it was my resume, the way I was applying, if it was my portfolio, but I just knew I needed help. So after taking the course I made a decision to reach out to a career coach and it seemed to have paid off very well.

Zulema: You realized that the role was for you, but that last piece of getting into your career was where you began to feel a little bit of doubt or self-doubt. Can you tell me about the steps you took into seeking out career services and how that felt?

Dimple: Yes, I was feeling a lot of self-doubt when it came to finding my next role. I knew I wanted to work for a well-known company and be a UX designer, not another realm of that. I knew I needed help and wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong. I heard that I had all the transferable skills and that I could easily transition into this role, but I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong. So seeking out the help from Careeer.me, really put things into perspective. I realized I just needed to clean up certain areas. Very grateful of the advice that I’ve been given.

Zulema: When you started seeking out career services, did you find Careeer.me right away or were there other career services that you looked at before moving forward with Careeer.me?

Dimple: Before Careeer.me, I had heard about a career coach, but I didn’t move forward with her because she didn’t specialize in the design industry. She had great skills, she was highly recommended, but didn’t know anything about the design process, or having a portfolio, and being a designer, that’s key. You’re judged on your portfolio a majority of the time. I needed a career coach that understood that, and also understood the tech industry. There are tons of startups here, and there are a lot of tech companies, so I also needed somebody who understood how that works. I was really glad I was referred to Careeer.me through another professional in the building I was working in.

Zulema: You mentioned you were talking to another career coach and General Assembly also offers career services. What makes Careeer.me different from the other career services that you experienced? What were the differences?

Dimple: Careeer.me definitely had more of a focus on design, development, and product management. The areas I was looking to get into. The difference between Careeer.me and General Assembly was that General Assembly is helping out several of their alumni. With Careeer.me, I hired a professional coach to help me, solely. I took all the advice that I got from General Assembly, and used it, but there was clearly something still missing. So with the help of my coach we cleaned up certain areas (resume and portfolio) and perfected others, and definitely started to see a lot better results than I previously had after graduating General Assembly.

Zulema: What did it feel like coming out of that boot camp and not having that job right away?

Dimple: I think coming out of a boot camp is like any other sort of educational training. You graduate and you’re not sure if you’re going to find a job before, during or after graduation. But, I mean, we all take that chance, and it’s a little scary. Majority of us graduate looking for a job. So you do what you normally do: You network, you reach out to professionals online. It’s a little scary, but it was nice to know that I had Careeer.me helping me out.

Zulema: You mentioned having taken General Assembly’s outcomes advice, but there was something missing, there were some gaps. Can you tell me a little bit more about those gaps?

Dimple: Yeah, the gap that I felt was missing from the General Assembly outcomes team was that, while I understand that they’re helping several students and not just one, I felt like I wasn’t getting the feedback that I thought I would once a week. By feedback, I mean after applying to positions or reaching out to professionals, I would have simple questions that I would ask my outcomes counselor, but I wouldn’t hear back immediately, or it wasn’t necessarily the advice that I was looking for, or it just didn’t help. I didn’t feel like it was getting me to where I wanted to be.

Zulema: Can you give me some examples of instances that you remember feeling or thinking, “okay, Careeer.me is making a difference.”?

Dimple: I felt that Careeer.me was really helping me make a difference vs. the outcomes team at General Assembly when I knew that my coach was helping me with my self-confidence. Somewhere down the line I lost my self-confidence, and believed that I couldn’t get the kind of job that I truly wanted. The one that I had just learned for — I just took a bootcamp for. I was feeling some self-doubt about getting that position, doubting my skills. I guess the one thing I didn’t expect my career coach to do was build my confidence back up and it was really nice. I mean, that’s not something you typically get from a career counselor, or I wasn’t sure that you would receive. It was nice to have someone just cheering you on, saying: “ you have these skills,” “you can do this,” “you can get that job.” That was something I really appreciated, and once I got over that hurdle of “I am capable of getting this job, it is a possibility,” I definitely started seeing the results I wanted from the companies that I wanted.

Zulema: Tell me about some of your current projects and what the next steps look like for you.

Dimple: Yeah, so next steps for me: right now I’m currently learning how to do research throughout the UX process, applying it to my work, and then presenting those findings to our stakeholders. Based on those findings I create wireframes, new designs, and prototypes. Once we get into the testing and design phase it’s really nice to hand off a final design to a developer and see it go live. It’s really nice to see it completed. I’d say next career move for me would be to keep improving all of my UX skills, learn as much as I can, and hopefully get into interaction design and gain that skill set- hopefully through my job if I can convince them to use more interactions.

Zulema: It definitely sounds like you’re in a good place Dimple! Looking back now at your career transition, going from project management to UX designer, what’s something you know now that you wish you knew back then?

Dimple: Something that I wish I knew back then is: Be patient with stakeholders. It’s not easy to do. I understand people have several different types of education or no education, and people work differently, and people have different design aesthetics. So just be open to hearing different creativity out, and don’t take criticism personally. It’s just a design critique. It happens to everybody. It’s a great way to build your design skills too. A manager could be pointing something out that you might not have even thought of or heard of. It’s good to know, don’t take that as a criticism towards you but think of it as a way to build your design skills.

Zulema: Awesome. Regarding the transitional part of going from project management to UX designer, is there something that you would advise anyone who is making that transition?

Dimple: I kind of transitioned from several different things. I think throughout my 20s I’ve been exploring what I wanted to do with my career, and I’m glad I found UX. But I’m glad I also had positions in project management, marketing, and web development. All three of those positions have helped me become a stronger UX designer. I want people to know that it doesn’t really matter what field you come from. UX design is a career that you can apply to anything. For example, it’s nice if you have a project management background in the medical field, you could use those skills at a medical company! I’d say having skills from any industry is pretty transferable when you’re a UX designer. You can apply toward anything. Coming from a nonprofit background, having that little medical knowledge really helped me gain the perspective of a member, a patient, and a doctor. It’s nice to know that no matter what industry come from, you can apply those design skills to any future company, as well. A lot of employers actually like seeing people come from a variety of different backgrounds. The financial industry is strongly growing, as well as the medical industry - especially in wearable devices. A lot of employers are actually looking for those kind of skills. Don’t shy away by saying, “oh well, I was in finance, I can’t be in design.” You can. You have a special skill-set that employers may be looking for, and that makes you stand apart from the crowd.

Zulema: Do you feel that working with your career coach from Careeer.me helped you see the skills you already had and position you into a more confident UX designer role?

Dimple: Yes, definitely. My career counselor definitely helped me see that I should take the previous experience that I have and apply it to the sort of positions that I want and we definitely made that clear in cover letters. I would also repeat that in interviews. I think that was a good tactic. It really helped. It helped other employers see that I do have a bit of knowledge because I didn’t do that kind of work at one point in time. It was nice to see that I can use the confidence in my past roles, for a future position.

Zulema: Did you try the job search process on your own before you reached out to Careeer.me?

Dimple: Yes, I did use a job search process. One suggested by the team at General Assembly, and then ones that I would hear online, or just my tactics, and I knew something was missing. I would even follow-up with hiring managers or recruiters and I just felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. The strategy I used with my counselor seemed to make more of a difference. I thought it was a bit more aggressive, but I noticed, I shouldn’t shy away from that, I should be a little more aggressive. This is something that I want in my life. I should push for it instead of shying away from it! So yes, the job search strategy at Careeer.me definitely helped more than what I was doing before, and it had clear results within a month, which I was actually very happy and surprised about! Yeah, it made a difference. I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong, but it really helped. And you know I kind of took that lazy approach. I guess some people still do it, and it works for some, but hitting the quick-apply button on LinkedIn doesn’t really seem to do anything for me. I’m not one of those lucky individuals where you hear back after just hitting a button. We can’t just hit a button and think, “oh, I’m going to hear back and I’m going to get this job.” We have to follow-up. We have to write those cover letters, those special catered resumes. I think that’s what I was missing. My counselor helped me see that, and it clearly worked.

Zulema: What is the single most valuable thing that you received from working with Careeer.me?

Dimple: The single most important thing. I don’t know, that’s hard to say, because I really love two aspects. The advice that I got on my portfolio and the job search strategy. I guess if I would have taken more of a UX approach to my portfolio, I could have gotten better results on my own, but having the advice from my counselor and the Careeer.me team really helped me see things I was missing in my portfolio. Then, using that portfolio in the job search strategy just opened up so many more opportunities. So I really like both aspects there. I’d say the job search strategy definitely got me the results that I was look for and helped me breakout of the confidence rut that I was in.

Zulema: That’s so awesome! I know you’re set for now. You’re totally set with a good UX design role, but let’s say, if you do decide to transition in the future, would you use Careeer.me again?

Dimple: Yeah I would definitely use a Careeer.me again. I loved working with my counselor and obviously I know what kind of results I would get. So it be a no-brainer. I could easily come back if I was seeking the help of finding that next career or the next level up. I know with the help of the Careeer.me team, I would get the kind of position that I’m looking for. It’s hard work, but I see it as an investment in your own career. I would highly recommend it.