Why I decided to take General Assembly’s UXDI Course

When people used to ask me what I wanted to do in life, I never had a real answer. For some it was easier, they knew they wanted to become doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc., but I had no idea (It is so hard to know exactly what you want to do at a young age!). That being said, I knew I wanted to end up doing something where I can let my creative side loose.

Things do not always go according to plan, and I found myself half way through my college years studying criminal justice (I might have watched a little too much CSI growing up). But that all changed once I decided to switch my major to communication, with a public relations track.

Upon graduating, I was fortunate enough to have landed an entry level job with a great PR firm. I spent the next 2.5 years doing public relations for a variety of clients, including some big brands, where I got some amazing experiences. During my time in the PR industry, I had the pleasure of working with some awesome designers, working together to create amazing work for our clients.

While I learned a ton from working on huge campaigns, product launches, receiving great exposure when working face-to-face with clients, the thing that stuck with me the most was the work I did with the designers.

As I mentioned earlier, I knew I always wanted to do something creative and during the course of working with these designers, it became clear what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to become a designer.

But what kind of designer? I have always been very tech-savvy and thought that the digital space would be a good route to go, seeing how everything is becoming digital these days. After doing a ton of research, I found myself reading about what a user experience designer is.

I looked at a variety of sources and although many of their definitions and job descriptions varied, it seemed that the overall theme was solving problems, something I believe myself to be good at.

I continued reading up on user experience design and using some free resources to learn more about the job itself and the tools and practices they used and knew immediately that this is what I wanted to do.

I might have taken me a bit longer to figure it out, but I have had some great experiences along the way that can only help me in the future. I am excited to begin this new chapter in my life and believe this UXDI course is a perfect way to get started.