From in-house IT to early-stage software startup: How I made the switch
At the end of 2020 I had been working for about two and a half years in IT at a large financial company. It was my first job as a User Experience Designer and while I was grateful to have broken into the field, the pace and style of work weren’t exactly what I had imagined doing after college, where I had enjoyed internships at two different startups. I found myself craving the high-impact, scrappy environment I had gotten a taste of at those very small companies. So when I started job searching again, I knew I had to try for a startup role. I quickly learned that being a UX Designer at a 100-year-old, 9,000-person financial company was very different than being a Product Designer at a less-than-2-year-old, 60-person startup. Luckily, I was able to overcome and address this gap, and land my favorite job yet here at Emotive! Below I’ll share some of the steps I took (and some I didn’t, but definitely recommend) to make the switch from in-house IT to an early-stage startup product team.
As I began interviewing, I noticed several factors about my experience in a larger company that put me at a disadvantage when interviewing for startup roles:
I didn’t have end-to-end experience.
This is a common struggle for designers who work at large companies, where the nature and length of projects make it almost impossible to follow a single project from concept to completion.
I didn’t have a lot of influence over the product direction.
At a larger company, there are many layers of stakeholders involved in deciding where the product should go next. As a result, Design usually has a smaller role to play in that decision.
I worked in a strict design system.
While design systems are great for consistency, they’re not the best for showcasing your UI design skills.
I worked with traditional web pages and patterns.
At a startup, there is a lot of freedom and flexibility to create new mental models. Not only are you designing whole products from scratch, but sometimes you are designing interaction patterns for actions or concepts that have never been possible before. Designing these flows and components is very different than designing more traditional web pages like account overviews, client management pages, and bill pay flows, where there are established patterns.
But all hope was not lost! In fact, all of these weaknesses could be intentionally addressed. Here are the steps I took to adjust my portfolio and experience to demonstrate that I was suited for a startup role.
I designed a personal project end-to-end.
My interviewers have since mentioned this was what put me above other candidates they spoke to. Since I didn’t have end-to-end experience from my day job, I started a side project researching and designing a mobile app. I went through all the important steps of the design process: problem definition, competitor research, discovery interviews, feature definition, prototyping, testing, and finally creating a UI library and polished interactive prototype. This also allowed me to stretch my UI design skills to work on mobile design, which I had not done before. The project showed I could drive an idea forward, make decisions, think conceptually, and execute professionally using my own UI system and patterns.
I asked about my red flags in the interview.
The second thing I did that put me ahead of the pack was asking whether there was anything about my experience that stood out as a red flag and would keep my interviewers from considering me for the position. If you’re aware of what your red flags are, you can practice the perfect rebuttal to their concerns. This gives you a chance to stand up for yourself in the inevitable conversation about your strengths and weaknesses. Interviewers at Emotive identified my red flags as a lack of end-to-end design experience and not being sure I could adapt to the pace of startup life. I was ready to respond with my personal project and examples of all the work I had done outside my job, as evidence that I was so eager to do more.
I devoted more of my case studies to strategy.
I added details to my case studies around how my project tied to larger priorities and initiatives in the company. While before I thought that because I didn’t make these decisions, I shouldn’t spend a lot of time discussing them, I learned that it was actually incredibly important to illustrate how I understood company direction and was intentional about my design.
I showed that I was well-rounded and curious.
In a startup, designers wear many hats and work closely with many departments. Having other product skills and interests outside of design makes this much easier. Personally, I have interests in accessibility, SEO, and analytics, and got certifications in these. This is also a good way to show you have a ‘growth mindset’ which is highly valued among startup folks.
Now that I’ve been in this role for about 9 months, there are a few things I know I could have done that would have made me stand out even more. If you’re looking to really develop your startup product design skills, I highly recommend you:
Use user research opportunities to ask more strategic questions.
I did a lot of usability testing in my UX role, but didn’t get to do a lot of strategic discovery research because my projects were pretty micro. Discovery research is a huge part of product design at startups because you’ll be starting the design process simply with a problem statement. If are able to talk to your users, take advantage of the opportunity and save a few minutes at the end of your regular research to ask some discovery-style questions. You’ll be surprised what you learn when you get out of the weeds. Use your findings to come up with some creative new product ideas!
Take time to do explorations.
Just because your company hasn’t assigned you to a project or you don’t have the dev resources, doesn’t mean you can’t brainstorm high-impact, innovative ideas. Read books on creativity and entrepreneurship, then take a look at your company. What solutions can you come up with? Flesh out a few of your favorites and show them off in your portfolio. If your company was a startup and you were Head of Product, what would you be doing?
Research software UI in the space you want to work in.
Spend time browsing software in the vertical you are interested in and become familiar with their patterns, then try to apply them in new and interesting ways. For me the vertical was e-commerce. I learned so many patterns I was not aware of since I had spent years in banking account UI. Use these newfound patterns to mock up some interesting concepts for your portfolio.
Most of all, working in a startup is about taking ownership, thinking for yourself, and always pushing the boundaries. If you’re looking to transition from a more traditional UX background, don’t be afraid to bring big ideas and think outside the design system box. You’ll be rewarded.
Have you made the switch from a large to a small company? From agency to in-house? Let us know about your experience in the comments or on twitter @emotivedesign. Also, we’re hiring! Check out our open roles.
