My Journey into UX
And how a startup gave me the encouragement to continue
UX as a career choice just sort of landed in my lap serendipitously. I was on a mission to change direction in my life and knew I needed to find an educational opportunity that would not take me very long to complete.
This desire to seek out a career that wouldn’t require years of schooling led me to the world of coding. I am passionate about learning new langages so the thought of speaking a computer language fascinated me. I was on Instagram one day when I saw an ad for Lambda School’s nine month coding bootcamp which promised a zero upfront cost and no tuition payments until I got hired. I felt like there was nothing to lose with this opportunity so I clicked the link without hesitation.
Lambda, as well as several other bootcamps, offers what is known as an income share agreement (ISA). It is kind of like an interest free loan which is paid back over time at a percentage of your salary each month. The total amount paid back has a cap so you will never pay more than that cap amount. These ISAs sometimes even tote a money back guarantee if you do not get a job within a certain period of time. All of this sounded great to me, and if you are intrigued by this idea of not paying a tuition until you get hired, I suggest you do some research about bootcamps that offer ISAs.
While looking around Lambda’s website and gathering information about the coding bootcamp, I ran into something that I had never heard of before — UX. After reading about User Experience Design, I realized that I had found a career choice that was well worth investigating further. I had always liked playing around in Photoshop, and I am a naturally curious person who likes to ask questions and find answers. I can remember applying to the bootcamp fairly quickly so I could check out the pre-course work and get a better idea of what UX Design was all about. I really enjoyed following along to the instructor’s Figma tutorial where we created a prototype of the sign-in process for a mobile app. This was a positive experience that lead me closer to beginning my new career path in UX.
During the time I was applying for Lambda and doing the pre-course work, I came across this wonderful startup called Career Karma. I downloaded their app to my phone and found it to be so helpful and supportive. They have a 21 day challenge where by completing it, they help pave your way to applying to bootcamps. They encourage you every step of the way so you are not trying to complete this career transition all on your own. The site also includes a community of fellow techies at different stages of the game who you can message for advice and support. I started out on my journey thinking I may end up in coding, but through my experience with the pre-work from Lambda and the support and information I obtained from Career Karma, I knew UX was going to be the right choice for me. I even scored a really cute free T-shirt for completing the 21 day challenge.
It was through Career Karma that I learned about Flatiron School. They hosted an online webinar with a Flatiron School representative where she spoke to us about the school and the programs they offered. This piqued my interest further. Needless to say, I had a lot of thinking to do, I wasn’t sure which bootcamp to choose, Lambda or Flatiron. In the end, I went with Flatiron because the structure was a bit more lax than that of Lambda, and I really needed a program that offered a bit of flexibility. Lambda also took a long time to get back to me with an acceptance after I submitted the pre-course work. Flatiron, on the other hand, was very prompt with communications. That further influenced my decision to choose Flatiron.
I graduated from Flatiron School’s UX design program in February. I am now in the process of looking for my first job in the design world. As it turns out, Lambda School has put its Design program on hold for the time being. It seems they ran into some issues where students didn’t feel they were receiving the education they had signed up for. From my experience at Flatiron, I feel they ran into some of those same pitfalls. That, perhaps, will be a story for another day. If you have any questions about UX bootcamps or my experience at Flatiron, please feel free to send me an email. I’d be happy to answer any questions or offer advice. melivela78@gmail.com
