5 things I learned working in tech as a product designer

Hi, I’m Zsofi, a product designer from Hungary. Since my 5 year work anniversary is close — which makes me feel experienced and old at the same time — I thought I should sit down and reflect on my career. I will walk you through how I became a product designer and share some learnings I picked up along the way.

The beginning

My designer journey started at university, where I studied graphic design. Back then I was fascinated by physical products like bookbinding and packaging design. Little I knew that soon, the tech industry will find and absorb me.

In my final year I became an intern at a startup called Prezi, where I worked as a marketing designer. I knew nothing about software companies at that point, but the work culture, the colorful office and the free food got me very excited.

I quickly realized that being successful at work has less to do with talent and more with collaboration and communication. It was a bittersweet realization since I always considered myself an introvert, someone who prefers to work alone. Or was I really like that? Looking back, I couldn’t have known since I never had the chance to collaborate on school projects. That is how well high school and university in Eastern Europe prepare you for life. Anyways…my first and huge learning was about teamwork. Precisely, teamwork outside your team.

Collaborate outside of your design bubble

Collaboration and getting feedback from your designer peers is super valuable, but they are not the only people you should talk to. The magic happens when you venture into new territory and start working with people from other departments.

Sales, Customer Management, and Support can teach you a lot about existing customers, buyer personas, and the target audience. Based on these discussions you can get a sense of how the existing product is performing, and why did customers choose you over the competitors. You can also ask these teams to introduce you to the customers, to talk to them directly.

Developers — no matter if you work in agile or “waterfall” — should be part of the design process from day one. Not only they know the technical requirements, but they can also ask great questions. Invite them to your ideation sessions, you will save a ton of iterations for yourself.

Product Managers should be your besties when it comes to ideating new features and prioritizing items on the roadmap. I was lucky enough to work with PMs who valued my insights and considered my opinion equal. I had to prove my worth though…and that will lead to my second learning.

Take initiative and don’t wait for approval

Being a marketing designer was okay, but I have to admit I didn’t love the job. I don’t want to say that marketing design is less than product design, it was just not for me. Instead of selling the product I wanted to influence how we are building it. Complex problems fascinate me and designing software is a complex problem. So I started learning.

It took me a year to put a decent UX portfolio together. I read a lot of books on product design and research. I learned to code basic HTML and CSS pages. I designed a webshop for my mother’s jewelry business. I took on a project at my day job and designed a portfolio website for our team. After that, I started applying to agencies. I had some awkward interview moments and a few rejections…but I could learn something from all of them.

My first product design job

In the end my struggles worth it, I was hired at UX Studio where I spent the next 2,5 years. My product design career started, and oh man, it was blood, sweat, and tears. I mentioned that I considered myself an introverted and shy person, right? Imagine that in my first month I was flying to Paris on a business trip to hold a 3-day workshop. I was terrified. (Of course, it was amazing and my teammates took care of my junior ass, still.)

After a couple of months and mentors after I started to feel much more confident and took on bigger and bigger projects. I was always able to create tasks for myself and I found that this trait is very useful at the workplace. Instead of expecting my senior colleagues to give me things to work on I went ahead and created my own agenda. Of course, communicating what you’re working on to your team is a must, at all times.

Soon, I was able to create project plans and even run my own workshops. I still turn red when I have to speak in front of people, but now at least I (usually) know what I’m talking about.

Don’t be afraid to try out new things

Being a product designer is so complex, there are many things to specialize in. I had a conversation with one of my managers a couple of months ago. We met for an intro call, and he asked about which part of the design process I like the most. I couldn’t give him a straight answer, I said I like something in each. His response was “Well, I can’t wait to see how your T-shape looks like.” Even though I found this sentence ridiculously funny, he had a point.

I’m not at that stage in my career where I could decide what to specialize in yet, and that’s okay. Trying out new things and widening your knowledge is always a good idea in my opinion. Don’t be afraid if you’re not an expert, no one was at the beginning.

Something I was afraid to try for a long time is user research. I was used to having a researcher next to me on projects, but I had to realize that’s often considered a luxury. More often than not, companies either don’t have researchers in-house or they don’t have enough of them.

I know how good product research looks like, and I believe it needs a different skill set than product design. But I had to accept that research done by me is still better than no research at all. So nowadays facilitating interviews is a part of my practice, (while constantly advocating for hiring a researcher to our team).

Have a clear career goal (even if it is changing with time)

After ticking out my first career goal (which was to transition from marketing to product design) I had to choose a new one. Working at an agency was great because I could experience working for many different companies in all shapes and sizes. It gave me the experience boost I wanted to have. The downside was that it became super intense. It’s difficult to switch context every 3–8 months because when you think you finally understood the product a new one comes. That’s why I decided I’d like to settle for a while, concentrating on one product for a longer period.

The other important criteria was that it had to be a remote job. For a long time I had a dream to move to the countryside, and I didn’t want to spend my time commuting.

I can gladly say that this second goal became a reality a month ago. I started working for a Romanian company called 123FormBuilder. I’m based in Budapest, Hungary, but my countryside home is in the making.

I encourage you all to have these types of goals, one step at a time. Even the most ambitious dreams can become reality if you break them down into manageable steps. I think the key is to be patient and realistic with yourself. For example, if your dream is to work at Google you might need to work at some other companies to gain the relevant product design experience. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. (And I have to tell this to myself every day.)

Come up with side projects

I think this last one might be the most important learning. Your day job shouldn’t be your one and only focus. Even if you’re working at your dream job at the moment, it is unrealistic to get 100% fulfilled from it. We are complex creatures, and we are able to have multiple interests at the same time. Your day job (hopefully) fulfills one of them, but that doesn’t mean you have to abandon all your other hobbies. I learned this the hard way.

My biggest hobby growing up was drawing. I studied graphic design because of it. At university, I learned how to draw for other people in order to make money. Somehow the transition from play to work was so smooth I didn’t even realize that my ‘art’ became a product. After university, I almost never drew for myself anymore because I didn’t really have the ideas or the motivation to finish something. I told myself that “I’ll draw if I have the right idea”. I only realized a year ago that it doesn’t work like that, you really need to do it first, the good ideas will come after.

Nowadays I’m drawing almost every day, but I have to tell you, it is challenging. It’s difficult to rebuild a habit. Or to do something for yourself, for the sake of doing it. But it is necessary for your mental health and for your well-being. So please don’t make the mistake I made and don’t forget to prioritize yourself instead of your career. Maybe you love music, writing, or playing basketball, no matter what it is, having an outlet for your creativity is crucial.

Self reflection

All in all I believe I learned some valuable lessons in the past 5 years. I’m sure there are plenty of things I could do better, and even more I know nothing about, so I can’t wait to see what the next 5 years will bring!

So often we only concentrate on the goals we haven’t achieved yet, or even worse, constantly comparing ourselves to others’ success. I challenge you to write your own list. No matter if you’re still at the beginning of your journey or been in the industry for several decades, you can always learn something new.