How I got converted to a full-time product designer at GrowthSchool from an intern
I am penning down my experience of 6 months internship at GrowthSchool as a Product designer.
About this article
I recently got converted to a full-time product designer at GrowthSchool after 6 months of internship. It has been an amazing experience to cross all the milestones, learn something new every day, create a full-fledged product from scratch single-handedly and ship different kinds of projects.
I will share some really interesting insights and anecdotes of my journey till now. I hope as a reader you enjoy this. I will categorize this experience into two buckets that are professional and personal.
First I will share my experience about how I got this internship since many people have asked this question.
So, I prepared my portfolio in Feb 2022. Then I started applying to the companies I shortlisted. I sent my portfolio to GrowthSchool’s official mail and got a reply back mail. There were two rounds of interviews.
#1st round of interview:
The first round was introductory with the Product & Design Manager. We discussed my background and experience. My aspirations for the role. He told me a bit about the company and its culture. Basically, it was a basic conversation trying to understand whether I will be a good fit for the role or not.
#2nd round of interview:
The second round was also scheduled with the Product & Design Manager. This was a technical round where I gave him a walkthrough of my portfolio. He asked some questions about my decisions and why I have taken a particular direction. It went quite well and I got the internship offer around March 2022.
I am attaching the link of that portfolio at the end of this article. Feel free to go through it.
Now starts the journey:
Key learnings from professional experience
#1. Learn to ask a lot of Why’s and How’s
Often times as an intern you will get direct requirements of work to be done. As a beginner, you have to understand the goals of the organization and the problem statement given to you. Asking why and how will help you know the cause and effect of the problem statement you are trying to solve which will increase your understanding of XYZ things.
The very first question I asked my manager when I started on a product is “Why do we use this kind of design system with more rounded corners, black buttons, and borders?”
The answer gave me whole insight into the idea behind company and what we are trying to build. The thought was to build an ed tech that is different from others and makes the overall learning experience fun.
We asked questions like:
- Why are we running this experiment? Are we doing an A/B test? If yes, then how to do it? When will we get results? And how do we measure results?
- For onboarding users on our webinar product, we found that users are coming to the platform by clicking on register CTA but not logging in with their social logins and phone numbers. After a lot of thought, we decided to run an experiment by introducing a form. The hypothesis was that people are hesitant to log in with their socials. So, we created a form that asked for all the information in a single go, and bingo the number of registrations increased by around 40%.
That’s how with simple why’s and how we can solve complex problems.
#2. On paper, ideation is the key to brainstorming and also planning for Visual solutions
I have a habit of carrying my ideation book and pencil to the office. It will help you get your ideas on paper and it will also help you communicate your first version of the thought process to your team or your manager. People even give better and open inputs on paper since it takes the least effort and more thinking or imagination.
A glimpse of how we do it:
We were trying to design a coupon to display the offer. Since we had a lot of data points we started our ideation and that gave us a way to anchor multiple points in a single card.
For ideating on flows and journeys too paper is most helpful. I was given a piece of profile on our learner's product. The task was to increase engagement in the community by making the profile journey better. That’s how I started the ideation and then went on creating iterations in Figma. Currently, it’s under development.
I follow this process for everything that helps me sort out my flow of thoughts.
#3. Effectively communicate your design decisions
Working in a start-up with cross-functional teams is never going to be easy. You have to answer to your manager or people who are in charge of the project in a different team, or even the founder. You should exactly know why you have designed a particular thing in a certain way.
I was working around a page where post-purchase we show a Thank you page to the user. Now for users, it should be informative and convey a feeling that we are delighted to have them on board but for a business, a referral is the most important thing there. Now you should be able to communicate properly why putting a referral upfront can impact user experience negatively. Always keep answers to the why’s ready and why other solutions didn’t work.
For developers, communication goes differently. First of all, always keep them updated and don’t throw a bomb in their face by changing design without informing them. Some tips for handoff:
- Separate the handoff page.
- Name it properly and keep that on top mentioning clearly that the page is for developers.
3. Arrange things inside properly without any clutter. Mention all the states and edge cases describing how things are going to work.
4. Inform them if there are any sudden changes or give them a heads up if you know something big is coming up.
Also, have a good bond with them so they have good coordination with you while working.
#4. Data-driven design is the key to success
Try to gather as much as data around your problem statement. That will help you create designs that actually perform better. In a start-up, it is often difficult to conduct research but if you stay disciplined it is possible.
How we do research:
We blocked time for our whole team for conducting user interviews. Every member in the team has a fixed target and they do research on the product or experience they are closely working on.
How we interact with users:
Now it depends on what we want to know from them. For example, I try to find out about their journeys. I ask questions regarding
- From where the user is coming
- What is their profession
- Why did they buy a particular program
- What are their positive and negative feedback
- And some questions related to the post-purchase experience.
I try to map out user journeys and understand the pain points of our users through this process. I am also able to validate my design decisions.
#5. Understand the power of copywriting
The image on left just warns you about the consequences but the image on right conveys what the consequences are (making people properly understand what will happen). This is how as designers we should communicate information to our users.
Copy makes a huge difference. Just always try to be on point. Always try to iterate on your copy as well.
#6. You are there to learn. Never say no to work
I had a good understanding of mobile screens and user flows but I have never tried landing pages. Since it’s a part of my work I took this project and successfully shipped them.
The important part was that it was challenging for me because I have never done something like this and also for these pages I have to directly coordinate with the sales and program team which was another challenging story in itself.
As a designer, you will come across things that are not your forte but try to ace them. It will make you a better designer and wiser person.
#7. Effective one on ones
A supportive manager is like a blessing. I would like to mention here that @kingsidharth has been a really great manager and mentor. He exactly knows where we are stuck and where we need help.
Coming to one on ones. A day before it I write down all my thoughts, queries, blockers, and some personal career-related things.
Then during a one-on-one, I try to discuss and ask all of these things. We also discuss any work-related feedback that is working well and things that I face difficulty in. He also gives me very legit solutions to whatever problem I ask. That’s how that one on one becomes really productive.
Apart from that we often get to listen to his pearls of wisdom where he can talk about anything ranging from “layouts” to a “river of texts”.
Key learnings from Personal experience:
#1. Network a lot!
Try to explore design communities. You will meet a lot of different designers. Every designer has a different story and superpowers. Try to strike up a conversation with as many as people you meet. You will definitely have a great experience with like-minded people.
You may also find a mentor or someone you wish to be like. If nothing much you will just have fun. The conversations can go anywhere from shoes to the early 90s era. That’s how wide the perception of design is.
Here is a glimpse of all the meet-ups I attended and it was fun!
#2. Develop hobbies
Find something that you find joy in. Something that you want to do when you are free, happy, sad, or just burnt out. I find my solace in reading. These books can be about anything fiction, nonfiction, self-help, design-related or financial planning. It should just keep you engaged and give you some value.
Some of my favorite books are:
#3. Make friends
Now by making friends, I don’t mean the people you already know or your colleagues. Meet some people out of your workplace. You will feel 10x better when you interact with them. Also, you will get to know about different professions, companies, and work cultures.
I was lucky enough to meet some amazing people on a fun trip to Gokarna. Short glimpses of that fun trip:
#4. Set up your workspace at your home and office
When you set up your essential things, then you can focus on all other problems when primary things are resolved. I rented out a peaceful 2BHK home and set up my room and workspace. Now I can focus on other bigger issues. Also, it becomes very peaceful when you don’t have to worry about food or other home-related stuff.
In the office, I took a place where I feel peaceful and productive. Brought a small succulent(I call it Olvy) which gives out very positive vibes.
#5. Experiment with yourself too
This can be very personal but I am very open to trying all the new stuff. It could be related to anything. My clothes, hair, the way I work anything. I had fun.
And that's all about the 6-month journey
It has been a great experience till now. Hope you enjoyed this article. Stay tuned for the next one in which I am going to show you some interesting work I have done in my Live Webinar Product. Soon we are going to launch some interesting stuff.
👉 The portfolio that got me this internship:
Dono: Bridging the gap between Donors and Charities
💡 Do you know - You can hold clap for few seconds and give out 50 claps in a single press.
If you wanna get in touch, here are my socials:
Twitter | Linkedin | Instagram
For further personal connect:
Mail me at: prernaathia@gmail.com