How I switched from Software Engineering to UX
Where I come from
Hi everyone! My name is Isuru and I hail from the little island of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean. I am 27 and I am currently working as a UX Designer for Virtusa, a global IT services company. I recently finished my Bachelor of Software Engineering from the Kingston University in UK with a first class.
I developed an interest towards computer science a couple of years ago and thanks to the internet, I was able to learn almost everything all by myself. YouTube and Udemy helped me a lot and I still to this day use these platforms to improve my knowledge!
My first internship
Little more than a year ago in April 2021, I found my first internship in software engineering at a small startup in Colombo. This is where I was able to put my skills in coding and technology to the test. I was able to learn various technologies such as NextJS, ReactJS, Express, and React Native. The exposure to mobile development that this internship gave me really opened my eyes to the world of mobile technologies and development. I learnt to build skills for the Amazon Alexa platform and was able to enjoy this more than I expected.
However, I knew in my heart that this was not what I wanted to do long-term. I was drawn towards the artistic side of things and intrigued by the beautiful interfaces that people have built and shared on platforms such as Dribble and Behance. At the time I did not have much idea about UI and UX and therefore I turned to google and started researching more on this topic. I was able to find some really good YouTube channels on UX such as UX Mastery, The Futur and Flux. The content on these channels really inspired me to follow a career in UX.
Building my portfolio 🎨
The more I researched about UI and UX, the more it became apparent that I need to build a portfolio in this area. However, I was still confused about the difference between UI and UX. It turns out that these two are very different things and employ different people with specialized skills. However, in Sri Lanka, most of the job openings still goes as UI/UX and there are only few jobs for only UX specific roles.
I was also working part-time for my brothers online clothing business, and I knew that this would be a good place to start for my portfolio. The business is called ‘Prime Culture’ and you can view its website here — Prime Culture — Comfort, Style & Quality. The business sells athleisure and gym wear for the local and international market through a WordPress website. I thought of creating a mobile app design for this business and therefore dabbled around with Abode XD for the first time. Little by little, I was able to build the mobile app screens using images from the website to make it more visually pleasing. Thereafter, I watched a couple of videos on YouTube to learn how to make a portfolio. I landed on one video which taught me how to create a beautiful portfolio and I followed it to make my portfolio. After a few weeks, I was ready with my portfolio, and I was bit proud of my achievement.
Switching to UX
After my first internship ended after 6 months, I focused on building my UX portfolio. At the time, I did not have much understanding of this field and I was just focusing on designing interfaces. Around January 2022, I got an opportunity to attend a career fair organized by my college. This event was attended by Virtusa, one of the top employers in Sri Lanka in the IT industry. I decided to attend this and made sure to take my portfolio designs on my iPad. At the event, a person first asked me in which area I was interested to apply jobs for. I immediately said I wanted to go into UI/UX side and then he directed me to a row of desks on the left side of the room. I was greeted by a panel of three people from Virtusa. I was further asked whether I wanted to go into UI or UX. I was bit confused at first because I still believed that these two fields were the same! How wrong was I as I soon found out!
I mentioned that I was interested in UX and then a couple of people started interviewing me. They asked me about my background and why I thought of coming into UX side. I told them that I completed an internship in software engineering and that I really did not enjoy coding as much as I expected and therefore wanted to try something in the designing side. Then they were interested to see my portfolio and I showed them all the designs that I was able to create. I was asked questions from my designs, specifically the reasons I used certain design elements, colors and my choice of typography and so on. I was also questioned on the design thinking process, which I had no clue about at that time!
Here’s a few links to learn about design thinking process!
What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular? | IxDF (interaction-design.org)
A Complete Guide to the Design Thinking Process in 5 Steps (careerfoundry.com)
After a few more questions on a case study related to an app for farmers and their activities, I was given the chance to ask them questions. I used this opportunity to learn more about the UX field and what the day to day is like being a UX designer at Virtusa. After like 30 minutes, I was able to conclude my interview and leave the premises.
First UX job! 💻
The very day I received an email and I got to know I was accepted into an Associate Engineer Technology UX! I was ecstatic and really happy I made it! After a few grueling and tiresome weeks of preparing documents and verification process, I was able to formally become part of the company. My team includes several other UX engineers and a UX architect who handles all UX related matters within the company.
The first few months, we were not allocated to any projects, but we had plenty of exams and internal certifications to complete as part of the hiring process. After this was done, our UX seniors introduced us to the UX field and gave us a lot of resources including books and YouTube channels to improve our knowledge. Then came the time for them to see us in action as we got a case study to complete within a month! All the new UX people got together for this, and we went through the whole UX process, all the way from research to wireframing and prototyping. The seniors were happy with our presentation and encouraged us to continue improve our UX skills and design skills.
This was a highly enjoyable process and I got to know my teammates on a deeper level. I am currently working in my ninth month with the company and I am allocated to a project with a British Telecommunications company.
Career goals🔥
My long-term career goal is to improve my UX skills, build a better portfolio and land a more senior role in UX after I gain some experience. I also began the ‘Google UX Design Certificate’ which is a 7-part intensive course for beginners to UX. This course has taught me so much new information about this field, and I would highly recommend it to anyone thinking of starting a career in UX. I will leave the link to this course below! Thank you!
